A Sephiroth Story
by Phoenixtelstar
Summary: Not good at summaries, or titles, but girl from our world ends up in gaia with Sephiroth, with a mysterious connenction to him and a world she knows nothing of.
1. Chapter 1  Meetings

Disclaimer - I do not own any of the final fantasy characters.

Ok - takes place just as Sephiroth has found out about himself - Phoenix, is from our reality.

Chapter 1 - Meetings

Work…eat…sleep. Work…eat…sleep. Same thing day in and day out. Life was predictable and boring as always. Phoenix Watson, Worker by day, nothing by Night. Unless you count book worm couch potato with no ambition…something. But at least it was a safe life, she kept on top of bills, had enough to spend a little on what she wanted and save some in the bank to build up interest. She was a non drinker non socialite, in fact when the words night out came up she usually just tried to hide and wimp out. She had her friends and family she talked to now and again but that was it. _Cruddy really but its sooooo much trouble to try and do anything, but that's fine, for now anyway no ambitions yet. Maybe in a couple of years or so. _It was just another quiet night, nowt on the TV, browse the internet looking for nothing in particular for a while before heading to bed. Ah…bed, one of those simple delights…a nice soft bed to go to sleep in when she was tired, nice and cosy and warm and big enough to sprawl out on. She locked the door and turned off all the lights she had forgotten to turn off beforehand. She turned off her laptop waiting just long enough for it to say shutting down before closing it and headed up the stairs. After a few steps she very suddenly began to feel dizzy, and having enough sense she sat down, she did not want to fall down the stairs. She felt sick and her head was spinning, something was wrong. Phoenix wasn't the kind of person to have strange fits of illness or headaches or anything strange, she was generally quite healthy and so she started to panic, why was she suddenly so dizzy. She generally had plenty of common sense but right now that wasn't helping much and her head was getting worse. It was dark but she began to see light that seemed to fade in and out getting slowly brighter, _great now I'm seeing things_ she thought. She lived on her own and right now with her feeling like she could pass out the only bit of common sense was to get to the phone and ring someone, but before she could get very far she passed out in an ever increasing, blinding light.

Sephiroth was pacing back and forth, he was in the basement of the old Shinra Mansion, and he was in a foul mood. He was one of Shinra's experiments, he was a son of Jenova, he deserved to rule this planet not work as a petty soldier for some third rate business man. He could hear her, Jenova, cooing in his mind, calling for him, willing for him to find her, it was almost overwhelming him and as his anger spiked it only continued to let his mind slip. He knew that he needed to go up to the reactor, but Zack was outside, waiting for him to come out. All those people were out there not knowing a thing about there pathetic, worthless lives. Jenova stirred again within him, filling him with hatred against Shinra, hatred against Zack and hatred against all those petty humans who didn't have a right to waste the air they breathed. Sephiroth let out a cry, hitting a wall full vials and books and of part experiments. Notes, beakers, vials flew everywhere as the whole shelving unit came crashing down. A vile smell from the mix of chemicals contaminated the air as the dust settled down, Sephiroth had no more desire to stay, he picked up his sword and turned to leave the room.

As he did so, amid the ruin something caught his eye, reflecting the dim light on the floor in a now broken glass case was a glowing materia, he wasn't sure what kind of materia it was but he picked it up. _Probably an experimental materia_ _of some sort _he thought. Whatever it was he could sense the power in it and so he decided to hold onto it. He left the mansion, he was going for Jenova.

Flames engulfed Nibelhiem, feeding Sephiroth's anger and he found a certain joy in watching the flames destroy and ravage the town. Jenova quietly urged Sephiroth on, filling him with a hated and rage not of his own. He had set fire to the town in his blind rage and blood soaked his Masamune from those who had tried to stop him, he turned away from the ruined town and headed for the reactor.

A way up the mountain he came across an old man who stood in his way, Sephiroth recognised him as the father of the girl whom had been their guide a few days ago when they had walked up the mountain initially to fix the broken reactor. Jenova's wrath fuelled him as this lowly man stood in their way, and Sephiroth killed him swiftly with his Masamune. He was being followed. He could feel them. Sephiroth turned and looked, he could see the town still ablaze but averted his eyes to the base of the mountain and in the distance he could see the girl, she was making her way up the mountain, and further on with his superbly keen eyes he saw leaving the village Cloud and Zack. Blood trickled down onto gloved hand from his bloodied sword and he tossed it aside then walked on, Jenova always urging him.

Finally he entered the main reactor, and ultimately beheld Jenova. There he paused, and as he did, the girl, Tifa, caught up. She was in a rage of her own, an emotional one, she tried to kill him with his own sword. He swatted her without even having to try, and she tumbled down the stairs that had been at the entrance of the reactor. She was unconscious. Knowing that Zack and Cloud followed he walked over to the reactor, and round to where Jenova resided.

"_At last my Son, now release me and together you and I…"_ Jenova spoke in his mind, but Zack shouted out from the entrance to the chamber.

"SEPHIROTH," Zack called out, "What have you done?" Zack could not understand what had drove his friend to commit such heinous crimes. _What had happened? Why was he doing this? _Jenova's rage once again filled Sephiroth,

"_Kill him, " _she whispered, and Sephiroth obeyed. He reached for his Masamune only to realise that it was not with him, it was laying upon the ground where he had removed it from Tifa's grasp. Zack came at him. Sephiroth could easily kill him and used only his inhuman brute strength to send him flying across the chamber and smashing into the wall with bone breaking force. Zack fell to the ground, his body broken, as Cloud entered the fray. Another one. Another petty human interfering in what he couldn't possibly understand. Jenova was meant to rule this planet but had failed to do so and now it was up to Sephiroth to bring about the dawn of a new age of destruction.

Hatred filled Cloud's heart as he watched his friend and mentor attacked so brutally before him. He ran over to where Zack had fallen, hoping, just hoping that he was still alive, he was, but just barely,

"It's up to you…Cloud…to stop him," Zach murmured before loosing consciousness. The strength that Sephiroth must have used left no doubt in Clouds mind that he had meant to kill him and that enraged him. Zack had looked up to Sephiroth more than anyone and considered him a friend, and that very same person had just tried to kill him without reason. It was up to him now to kill the monster before him, but he would have to be careful Sephiroth was a serious opponent. Cloud slowly and quietly made his way round to be near Sephiroth, sword in hand ready to defend himself.

"_Kill him, Kill them all,"_ Jenova's wrath fuelled him, he had no sword but he did have a powerful materia though his sword was not to far. He moved swiftly over some metal supports and reclaimed his sword but Cloud quickly followed coming at Sephiroth. Sephiroth had his sword but it was the materia that he decided to use, thought he did not know its power, his clear mind was no longer with him, he drew it out of his coat and poured his magic into it. Cloud readied to defend himself, but at first nothing happened, an eerie silence threatened to suffocate anyone. But as Sephiroth poured in his energy to the now intensely glowing orb flames began to almost ooze out of the Materia. _hmmm guess it just a mastered fire materia after all _Sephiroth thought, and so he aimed his power at Cloud as Cloud himself decided to wait no longer racing in for the kill. Then everything went awry. The materia went crazy, glowing so blindingly that even Sephiroth himself had to look away. Cloud stopped in his tracks lest he come too close to Sephiroth and die whilst he was sightless. Heat, a furious heat erupted from the materia, Sephiroth let go worrying that perhaps it might explode, which is precisely what happened, though for Sephiroth it was like waking into a strange dream.

_What has happened? Why am I here?_ Jenova no longer clouded his mind. He could remember but it was as if he had been in a fog that had now lifted. He was no longer in the reactor, he was in a place of light and there was nothing else. Everything was silent, not a sound, sight, smell…nothingness, only light. But he could sense someone, someone close, familiar, though only as a distant memory, familiar none the less. _Where was he? Dead? Unconscious? No not dead,_ he thought, he felt alive somehow. He felt for the presence and instantly connected, feeling it with his mind. _A person,? _he thought. His body began to feel heavy, like gravity was pulling on it and the light began to fade until blackness filled all.

He opened his eyes, it was night. He could see the stars and the moon, _Where was he? He had been in the reactor. So then where was he now? _He sat up and looked around, he was in a forest though in a open area, _If memory serves there's a forest near Nibelhiem, but how did I get here? _he was thinking. Then he thought of the materia, _some sort of transportation?_ It was then that he noticed a woman laid nearby. She looked as though she was out cold, by the contorted way she was laid, almost like she was laid as she fell. There was something disturbingly familiar about her. Though at present he could not remember having met her. She had the same presence as the person he had felt in the 'Light' place. _I must have been subconsciously aware of her_ he thought. Sephiroth cursed himself. He had let Jenova get the better of him. He had run riot. He had not intended to let it get so far out of hand. He didn't really care of the villagers, nor the girl or her father, nor really what had happened to Cloud, though he did have regrets over Zack. He had considered him a friend and would not have chosen to try to kill him. Sephiroth stood up, he would go back to Shinra and find out the answers to all his questions about himself from Hojo himself, after checking the reactor. He would report that Cloud and Zack had defected and 'play nice' for a little while. Shinra would give him the opportunity to find the answers he sought then he would have his revenge against Shinra and humanity. He could see faint light in one direction with his keen eyesight and assumed that that must be Nibelhiem, he would head in that direction then sweep round the town and on up to the reactor.

Sephiroth made to walk away when he once again noticed the woman. She was still unconscious. Something irked him, _why should he care about some strange unknown woman? She was just another pathetic weak human, _he stood there pondering, walk away or drop her off at the outskirts of town? He walked over to her and bent down. _Why was she so familiar?_ the curiosity was eating away at him, if he had ever met her he should remember but he still couldn't remember having met her before. He shook her shoulder. He did not want to be carrying some woman to town if he didn't have to. She didn't move. He shook her more vigorously finally rousing her. _Good, _Sephiroth thought, _now she can walk herself. _

Phoenix opened her eyes, she were so groggy but she didn't feel dizzy or light-headed anymore at least. It felt like someone had stuffed a pillow in her head and left it there, _and why is the bed so lumpy _she found yourself thinking. _And why is it so cold? _she found herself thinking looking around,_ and why…am I…in-a-forest-with-a-strange-long-grey-haired-old-man-with-glowing-green-eyes-looking-at-me?… … ug I must be hallucinating, _she thought. Phoenix closed her eyes took a deep breath and looked again _but I don't see why…I must be dreaming._ She closed her eyes once more and looked again, but the same image greeted her. She pinched herself…hard.

"Owwww," she said, _ok not dreaming_

"What are you doing?" Sephiroth said, she started to panic. The last thing she remembered was going upstairs to bed after the usual boring night. Then she had gotten dizzy and…passed out. _Good lord what's happened? _She looked up at Sephiroth, and panic renewed in full force, ideas coming into her head, kidnapping? _Oh yea right kidnapped buy a long haired old man…giant…thing_ but as she looked in the moonlight she could see that he wasn't old at all, he was actually young and well built, only his hair was gray,another thought came to mind, had she been drugged, she had passed out. But how? Why? What was he going to do? Who was he and why was he here? Why was she here?

"Are you alright?" Sephiroth stated, her face was stricken. This man must have somehow gotten into her house kidnapped her, brought her to a forest for who knows what reason, and so she said the first stupid thing that came to mind,

"Nobody's-going-to-pay-anything-for-me" she said in a blur

"What?" Sephiroth said, "I don't want any money," _oh no_ she thought, _if he didn't want money then what did he want?_

"Well I don't have any!" she said a little hysterically, she tried to keep her voice level. Sephiroth sighed,

"I don't want any money," he repeated, _well if he doesn't want money…_she thought again, _then what?_

"Are you going to kill me?" she had noticed his sword, somehow it had still been with him when he had awoken. Sephiroth followed her eyes then looked back to her,

"No," he stated.

"No?" she repeated

"No," he said again. Sephiroth found himself thinking that he should leave, she was obviously paranoid and yet he found he couldn't just leave her here, something continued to nag at him. He knew her somehow, the more he looked at her the more he knew it. But she didn't seem to have a clue.

Phoenix just looked at him, _so if its not money or murder then…_her eyes widened as he looked at her. She made to get up and run but he grabbed her swiftly and pinned her to the ground by her shoulder. It was like a statue had just pinned her down. She tried to pull away but he effortlessly held her in place, then he looked her in the eyes searching for some kind of answer. It was dark and his face was in shadow, so she couldn't really see but since his eyes glowed from the mako when he looked at her, she noticed. It was like being stricken down, a deer in the headlights. She looked away as his eyes burned into her, and despite her drive to get away her fight wavered, he turned her face forcefully to look at her. _Where? Where do I know you from, _he thought. Phoenix could hear his thoughts in her mind, but she wasn't convinced she had heard anything as she had heard more of a whisper. They had come almost as an echo, and as she could hear his mental words he could feel her panic, as though their minds were linked somehow. Phoenix began to struggle again but he pinned her down firmly. He was leaning ever closer looking at her, his eyes drilling into her driving her almost insane as he tried to figure her out, his body leaning ever closer. _Panic…Panic…Panic_

"I've got H I V!" she shouted, he paused,

"What?"

"H I V, so if I was you I wouldn't," Sephiroth just looked at her,

"Wouldn't what?" he asked, _what? _she thought,

"Well, well…I said I've…I've got H I V and…so…so if you don't want to catch it…do you…so you really don't wanna…rape me do you, you don't believe me do you?" she said, _H I V ? Well that was stupid, or genius, depends what he does, _she thought, Sephiroth looked at her and sighed. Irritated that anyone would think him of something so degrading. Though he could somehow tell she was lying about H I V, whatever that was. Sephiroth stood up pulling the woman up with him.

"I am NOT going to rape you," he almost growled, sending shivers down her spine, _then what?_ she wondered, she opened her mouth to speak but he answered first, _strange that I can hear this woman's thoughts so easily, _and guarding his own thoughts he said,

"I woke up here, I'm not sure how I got to this place nor how you came to be here. I think a unstable transportation materia brought me here, possibly you as well…"

"Sorry," she interrupted, he glared at her for doing so, "A transportation what? No I wasn't on a bus or car or anything I was walking upstairs to bed, then suddenly I had a dizzy spell, there was a bright light and then a weird old man in a forest," his glare darkened, _old man? _

"AS I said, I'm certain a broken materia brought us here." he replied, his voice sounded so cold yet haunting, she wasn't sure but something about him was familiar but then she figured she must have hit her head so since she were sure she would remember meeting someone like him but still there was something familiar…_I don't think he liked the old man comment, _she thought, _and don't antagonise the…bad guy?_

"Emmmm, what's transportation material?" she asked, he looked at her blankly and said

"Materia…that transports people!" he sounded a little irritated and like he was talking to a child, sort of, _like dur_. And that irritated her, _who was he anyway?_

"O…Kay, but I still have never heard of a ma-te-ri-a is it a sort of car?" Sephiroth was giving her a sort of _is she for real?_ sort of look.

"I'm sorry gees I don't know about cars, it's really not that big a…"

"It's not a car!" he interrupted. He sounded irritated. Phoenix fell momentarily silent. The thought of maybe gagging her and dropping her off in the town became slightly more appealing,

"Well bike then, or scooter…" though she couldn't imagine that kind of guy on a scooter. _She has no idea what a materia is, _he thought. "or bus…"

"It's a magic orb," Sephiroth stated. Now she was the one giving an _is he for real?_ look. _You know he is dressed real odd maybe he's in dress up?_ she wondered. And Sephiroth could hear her thoughts, unbeknownst to her.

"Riiiiiiiight, Okay and you're an elf right, and a bright light is going to whisk you away to never never land," she said. _She's mocking me, _Sephiroth thought, he was thoroughly irritated yet amused at this woman,

"What's your name?" he asked and after a moment he said "…I'm Sephiroth," He expected her to recognise his name, since he was the famous general of Shinra, but nada. He saw no spark, no recognition, no nothing.

"Well since you ask it's Phoenix. Under normal circumstances I'll say nice to meet you but well, it's not normal," she answered. "Emmm do you know which way to town and what town it is, are we near Bishop Auckland?" It was official in Sephiroth's eyes, she was delusional and to make matters worse he knew that she thought he was the crazy one.

"I've never heard of that place," he answered, "Nibelhiem is in that direction,"

"Ni-bel-hiem? Ni-bel-hiem? Never heard of it, it sounds foreign, we are in England right?" she asked, she was worried. The man seemed okay…ish, but she couldn't be sure really, and he was delusional, he believed in magic. That was wacky. He was probably just having her on.

"No we're in the Nibel Area of the West Continent!" Sephiroth answered, to Sephiroth it was beginning to get tedious. _This is stupid_ he thought. He was ready to leave,

"Nibel? Where on Earth is that? West Continent? Do you mean America?" she said confused and doubtful, _how could you have gotten to America?_

"Alright listen carefully," Sephiroth began looking very serious, "Nibelheim is in that direction and is in the Nibel area, obviously you are very confused possibly because of the effects of the materia, however you should walk to town and sort yourself out…"

"Yes, yes, yes but what area of 'England' or even 'Europe' are we on," she spoke slowly wondering if he was slow,

"Neither, we are near Nibelhiem…" he stopped, he was not going to bother explaining, it was beneath him, he had pointed her in the right direction and now he was going to leave, but as he stopped she started,

"Oh come on, you can't expect me to honestly believe that I have _magically _been transported from my stairs at home in _County Durham_, England to some foreign Ni-bel-hiem place by a…flash of blinding liiiiiiiiight…" Sephiroth had decided to leave, she would obviously fall to wraiths if he were to leave her, unless attacking a dunce was beneath even them - though he didn't want to bet on that - so he had promptly and unceremoniously grabbed her by the arm and levitated to just above the trees to head for the edge of Nibelhiem. And much to his satisfaction, she was screaming, quietly and rather pitifully but screaming none the less.

Somehow they were flying, though the air, not falling or gliding, flying. Without a plane, glider, jet pack or anything else…that was impossible. She had reduced herself, shamefully, to screaming, but now she was under control after realizing, though it was impossible, that she were not going to fall and die. Unless he dropped her, which she were hoping he wouldn't. Phoenix held onto his arm for dear life, just hanging. _It was official this can't be real, _she thought, but non the less they were flying through the air. But then he stopped, mid-air, floating and up righting himself. Holding her arm so that she was dangling by his side, fighting every instinct she had not to grab hold of his legs which was even now more than she could bear to demean herself to. Sephiroth hovered there, something was off. He had set Nibelhiem ablaze, but there was not any trace of the flames that had spread not too long ago. The town looked dilapidated yet rebuilt, there were traces of a fire that took place a long time ago - old buildings that had scorch marks on the outskirts - but nothing recent. There were a few people about busying along with late night business, buildings that had been refurbished, the Shinra mansion looked in more disrepair than what he remembered. It was as if several years had passed in what must only have been a few hours a least. He can't possibly have been unconscious much longer than that. _But the town? It's renewed, it should be in pieces. _Sephiroth thought. He could not understand it. He looked down at Phoenix. Who was struggling to keep hold of his arm, looking horrified. _And who is she? _He wondered. Sephiroth made a decision, he knew that he recognised her somehow and he could not remember, that annoyed him thoroughly, so he decided he would check the reactor, then return to Shinra, there they could check her history and find out something. She was obviously confused and might even need a doctor.

Sephiroth began to fly forward heading for the reactor, but as he did so the woman grabbed his leg, 'unceremoniously'.

"Put me down," she shouted. Phoenix was ashamed of herself, she held onto a mans leg for dear life. It was shameful. "As in on the ground," she felt the need to explain, "Please?" Sephiroth looked at her. He looked irritated.

"You'll be coming with me," he stated,

"What?" she said, "Coming with you? Where? I just want to go home," she wined, "My nice warm home, in not Nibelhiem,"

"I'm taking you back to Shinra," Sephiroth told her, _She should at least know Shinra,_ he thought. But no, of course not,

"Shinra?" she said, "Where's Shinra? America?" _What was with this woman, had she lived her life under a rock? _

"Shinra's the company I work for, I'm checking the reactor then I'll take you there, they will be able to tell you where…Bishop Auckland…is." Sephiroth told her. Her mind was buzzing, _ok so,_ she thought, _bullet points, 1. I'm dreaming or crazy 2. I'm no where on earth I've ever heard of with a stranger WHO CAN FLY, which is impossible, 3. He's taking me to a reactor, what's that ? I nuclear reactor? And 4 Shinra can tell me where I am…maybe possibly 5... ? well I could go on forever. _What choice did she really have at the moment but to do as he said he had hold of her floating in the air so what exactly were she going to do? She had to trust him…sort of. Phoenix screamed again as he pulled her off his leg and flew off again.


	2. Chapter 2 Encounters

Chapter 2 - Encounters

Solid ground took far too long to get to, and when Sephiroth landed Phoenix's legs felt like jelly and her arm like it was going to drop off. She could kiss the ground if that wasn't only something that happened in the movies. Sephiroth let go of her and drew his sword, just as precaution in case Cloud was still around. Of course he couldn't trust Phoenix either though she was hardly a threat. He walked into the reactor leaving her wondering whether she was to follow or wait, but as he walked on he said,

"If you don't hurry a wraith might get you," _Wraith? wraith_ she wondered,

"Ermmmm I don't believe in ghosts," she said

"I said wraith not ghost!" Sephiroth said

"What's the difference?" she asked a blank look on her face. Once again Sephiroth looked at her as though she were stupid. She found it slightly funny that a big guy like him was afraid of ghosts. She _might _have laughed if she didn't think he might snap. Sephiroth didn't dignify her with an answer, he walked into the reactor. She waited outside.

A short while passed silently, then she heard something. _oh no, _she thought, _I never thought about wild animals. _She looked around and saw something that didn't exist, it couldn't exist at least that's what she told herself. _You don't get animals like that anywhere_, and she knew about animals. _Panic!_ Phoenix backed up slowly as a huge demonic wolf…horse…bear thing glowered at her, growling. _Back up, slowly…_

"There there. There's a…a good demonic wolf, horse, bear thing…" she stammered. "You wouldn't want to eat me. I'm scrawny, short, nothing but skin and bone really…" it launched at her and with a short mini scream she turned and ran. She had never run so fast in your life. She would have been screaming but she didn't have the breath to do so. Sufficed to say she wasn't very athletic. She was short, scrawny, and did not have the best stride for running. _What was that guys name again? _She could hear it behind her, and she could only thank the lack of space that it hadn't caught her yet, it was a little clumsy and kept running into things she went over or around and the place was a mess. _Hadn't that man said that this was a reactor, _she wondered, it didn't look very well kept, but really that was the last thing on her mind as she could hear the creature a short way behind her. Phoenix turned another corner, then another hoping she could lose it but then she stopped dead after coming round one more corner through a dilapidated door. It was like something out of a horror movie. There were people, _where they even people? _in tanks, mutilated, part human part…something else. She would have stood staring in horror but the creature caught up. She ran, knowing it was a breath behind her. This was a nightmare, she turned slightly to look, this was it. There were stairs ahead of her, and she couldn't outrun it upstairs and there were no turn offs. But she ran for it none the less…

Whiplash.

Phoenix stopped so suddenly as her arm was practically ripped out of her shoulder, by Sephiroth as he pulled her sharply to the side, the creature unable to stop quickly enough went straight past and even up a few stairs.

"That," Sephiroth stated pointing with his sword, "would be a wraith."

"That's a wraith? That's not even a real animal, things like that don't exist!" she was out of breath and almost hysterical. _What was going on? None of this could be real? _She felt dizzy from lack of breath and gasping for continued air she found herself leaning against Sephiroth more than she would like. The 'wraith' was stood glaring at both of them, growling, she could almost feel the hair standing on the back of her neck, the air seemed so tense, it's murderous bloodthirsty intent filled the atmosphere. A chill ran down her spine, and she felt faint, it was almost like the air itself was strangling her. Yet the wraith was backing away, in fact, now it looked frightened, slowly but surely it backed away until it turned and ran almost whimpering as it did so. Yet the air was still heavy, almost painfully so. Sephiroth lowered his Masamune. A cold sweat covered Phoenix, _if the wraith was gone then where was this murderous intent coming from…_she slowly turned and glanced at Sephiroth. He looked at her, his eyes piecing her with unending intensity that almost burned her own eyes after only a second. She felt faint, she couldn't breath.

She was weak. She was falling apart after a short run and now could barely stay conscious when he was emanating his energy even as such a low level as this, only enough to scare a petty wraith. Sephiroth had not found anything. The main reactor was in pieces, and looked as though it had been for a long time, not a trace of Jenova remained. Though he could still feel her at the edges of his mind. Her presence had been so strong before, though he would not allow her to control him again he still felt her urging him, but much quieter. It amused him, and irritated him that the presence foremost in his mind was Phoenix's. Like their minds were linked, he could feel her thoughts, feelings and as time passed glimpses of strange memories. She didn't have any mental strength, so it was doubtful she could see his thoughts if he guarded them. He wanted answers. He had to get her back to Shinra, there he would get his answers, who she was? Where she was from? And why she was somehow bonded to him? - try as he might he had not been able to cast her out of his mind no more than he could Jenova before - _could she be like me?_ he wondered.

Sephiroth dragged her on jelly legs out of the reactor, slowly she recovered as he stopped emanating that vile energy but her skin still tingled in memory of it. Slowly as she gathered her thoughts she began to wonder what had happened. _Just forget about it, _she told yourself, _it was probably from running so much._ Once outside Sephiroth let go of her, she sat down still feeling a little wobbly. He pulled out a phone and rang someone walking just far enough away so that she could not hear the conversation. The conversation had gone on for some time and Sephiroth, though Phoenix couldn't exactly hear his words, seemed a little irritated. Eventually he hung up, then he waited.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you were wondering, 'how did I get here?' Well this was one of those moments. A strange obnoxious doctor was examining her, like she was an object. Sephiroth stood nearby waves of lethal energy coursing over her as he glared at the doctor even after he had been dismissed, but hadn't left. A Helicopter had come after the phone call. Phoenix had been ushered on and gone to a large building, here she was ushered along some more pretty much being ignored while lots of people talked to Sephiroth about stuff she could neither hear nor comprehend until eventually when finally they paid her attention she were taken to see this doctor. Who was now trying to take blood without asking with a very dubious looking needle.

"What are you doing?" she pulled her arm away. The doctor pinned your arm down with more force than she could have expected, then pressing a button the chair suddenly strapped her in place. _Panic._ Phoenix's heart rate suddenly rose, she was strapped down and the doctor stabbed her with a needle and extracted some blood.

"No, let me go, you can't do this to me, this is illegal…"

"Be quiet woman," the doctor said, he picked up a syringe of something glowing like those neon stick lights you get as a kid, she was in full blown panic. He was going to inject her with it and she couldn't begin to think it was something good. She started struggling, he had a malicious look on his face and a creepy lopsided smile,

"No…No don't you can't do this.." she began shouting

"This will make you shut up…well, after a little pain anyway," he said. He lowered the needle to her arm, Phoenix struggling as much as possible, panicking, the needle pressed against her arm penetrating her flesh, but before he could inject, Sephiroth stopped him.

"Hojo!" he said warningly, a depth of malice oozed from his lips as he spoke. Her spine tingled as the air once again strangled her. Suffocating malevolence filled the air making it unbreatheable. It was far worse than before with the wraith. The scientist doctor, whom was apparently was called Hojo, looked at Sephiroth as though he was an unpleasant odour. She could see the battle in his face, he clearly couldn't beat Sephiroth but he didn't want to relent either. He looked back and forth between Phoenix and Sephiroth.

"This has nothing to do with you Sephiroth," Hojo stated, but Sephiroth did not relent,

"SHE, is NOT one of your experiments Hojo," he warned. Then suddenly a glint caught in the scientists eye, he injected, as much as he could before Sephiroth could stop him.

Sephiroth reacted instantly swiping the syringe away. Hojo went flying as Sephiroth pushed him aside, but some of it had none the less gone into her. Sephiroth was furious. He pulled away her bindings that held her with ease, and pulled her up, she could barely stand. Something was wrong. Phoenix's arm felt like it was burning, and the sensation was only getting worse. She felt faint, Sephiroth's fury was almost more than she could handle. It was so palpable that she could almost feel it hitting her in waves. _I should have known not to trust him, _Sephiroth thought, he should have insisted on another scientist, Hojo had looked far too happy when he had been asked to check this apparent stranger, and far too unhappy when Sephiroth had refused to leave. He needed answers, he couldn't get them if Hojo killed her with a stupid stunt like injecting her with concentrated mako. _What had he been thinking? A few drops could kill a normal person and he had injected at least a few ml. Phoenix was unlikely to survive, but Sephiroth had to try. She looked like she was in serious pain. And he was right. The pain had moved up her arm and was spreading fast. It was agony, unendurable pain. Her body felt like it was slowly burning from the inside out, only far more painful like barbed wire was being raked through her veins. She felt like screaming but she could not catch her breath. All she could focus on besides the pain was Sephiroth holding her up before she passed out, into blissful oblivion. _


	3. Chapter 3 Awakening

Chapter 3 - Awakening

The woman called Phoenix had been unconscious for days. After she had passed out, despite the inherent danger of leaving her without proper medical care Sephiroth had taken her to his home. At the moment she was laid on the spare bed, surprisingly she was still alive but if she didn't wake soon he would have to take her back to the care centre for intravenous fluids. He didn't want to do that, _who knows what Hojo might do? _In the last few days Sephiroth had looked into everything he could. Hojo had hounded him about the girl rather insistently, _far too insistently if you ask me_ Sephiroth thought. What he had managed to find out only gave him other questions. Starting with the materia, he had found it when looking through the rubble of the reactor and had examined it thoroughly, though it no longer seemed to hold any power he had managed to discern that it was in fact a summon materia. Though what exactly had happened when he had used it he didn't know. He would have to ask Hojo since it had been in one of his old labs, but would he get an answer. He knew that somehow it had transported him and this strange woman a few miles from the reactor and, the strangest thing of all, somehow seven years into the future. Everyone thought he was dead, by Cloud's hand none the less. As though he could be killed by a rookie. He had not been able to find out much about Phoenix. There was no trace of the places she knew. He had looked into her mind and memories whilst she was unconscious to try to learn what he could, and either she was seriously delusional, (since all her memories were all of some very strange world), or she WAS actually somehow from another strange world. The strange thing was that she had absolutely no memories before the age of 11, and she had memories of a 26th birthday so he figured her to be 26. There wasn't much for her to say for herself really but she was a decent person. How would she handle being here? And to top it all off there must have been more than just Mako in the syringe as she may not recognise herself when she woke up. _What had Hojo done?_

Sephiroth sat in the room where Phoenix was laid, it was the 6th day since she passed out. He would have to take her to the lab there was no other choice. Otherwise she would die of malnutrition or dehydration. He had managed to get water down her throat to prevent the latter but she needed to wake up to eat. He waited, and waited, but she did not wake up. He had to take her back to Hojo. But he wouldn't take his eyes off her for a second, not under Hojo's care.

Another three days passed before Phoenix awoke. Sephiroth had taken her into Shinra where Hojo had continued his tests. Getting rather irritated at having to explain every last detail to Sephiroth about what he was doing and why it was necessary. He wasn't giving him any room to 'play around' though Sephiroth suspected that somewhere along the line he had done something, and when Hojo did finally do something obvious Sephiroth once again removed her from his care, so when she eventually awoke she was once again waking up on a soft bed. She felt warm and cosy, the light was like that of early morning, she had been having the strangest dream of a flying man, and a strange animal had chased her and there was a bit about a creepy doctor. _Uck_, she had to get up for work, but the alarm hadn't gone off yet. _What time is it?_ she wondered. Phoenix opened her eyes to look but in place of her usual side cabinet and alarm was a man with long silver hair and amazing green eyes. Obviously she figured she was still half asleep. A small eternity passed as she gazed into his emerald eyes thinking any moment now he would disappear as she woke from her dream. But no. In fact the man said,

"So, your finally awake," his voice seemed stern yet soft and seemed to draw her in…Phoenix just stared. "Phoenix?" he raised an eyebrow and she felt herself shamefully blushing. She dragged her eyes away, _good lord I have to wake up now,_ she thought, she closed her eyes and sat up. Phoenix felt dizzy, since she hadn't eaten for so long, even with the nutrient drip she had been given her body still objected to the sudden movement. She held herself still till it passed then opened her eyes thinking that everything would be back to normal. But Sephiroth was still sat there and now she was most definitely awake, which meant, she wasn't dreaming.

"I'm not dreaming then," Phoenix said, matter of factly.

"That would be no," Sephiroth answered. He was glad that she was finally awake, he hadn't wanted to take her back to Shinra again. He waited for her to come round fully, she was noticeably still out of it. Sephiroth stood up and put the light on, _that might help_ he thought. Phoenix cringed at the light closing her eyes but when she opened them, after a few minutes she was more awake, and she found herself confused again. She looked at Sephiroth, he was standing a few feet away from the bed, but if that was the case then why was his hair all over her? Silver hair was draped over her body, Phoenix frowned, looking back and forth between the hair and him until suddenly she realised that it was connected to her head. _What? _She wondered,

"What the…? Why have I got grey hair?" Phoenix said out loud, then slowly she noticed that that wasn't the only difference. Whilst Phoenix had been unconscious under Hojo's 'care' he had given her copious amounts of mako injections, he had told Sephiroth that her body could handle it and that she would die anyway unless he made her body adapt, in essence he had to alter your genetics a bit, and he had used Sephiroth's genes to do it.

"Hojo did it!" Sephiroth said, "He altered your genetics to allow your body to adapt to the Mako he had given you. If he hadn't you would have died from Mako poisoning." Phoenix just looked at him, _you had almost died?_ _From some sort of poisoning?_

"So your saying this is permanent…then?" she asked, she hadn't really understood what Mako was but to Sephiroth, well, he spoke as though everyone should know what it was.

"That would be a yes!"

"What's Mako?" she asked. Sephiroth sighed, _this girl doesn't know anything, _he thought.

"Mako is ethereal energy, the planets energy, in fluid form," he told her, "And no, I'm not making that up, its fact," Phoenix had been about to say 'yea right' but decided better of it. She looked at herself, she had long gray hair and she couldn't help comparing it with Sephiroth's. Whereas his was defiantly more like strands of silver hers was a shade darker, but that wasn't the only difference, her body was different. She looked like she had trained most of her life instead of lazed around, she had well defined muscles, not overly so but defiantly she looked like she worked out.

"Emmmm, where's the bathroom?" Phoenix asked. Sephiroth pointed and she got up and though still a little wobbly went in, hoping for a mirror. Closing the door behind her she looked over herself. She felt stupid but she wanted to know what the doctor had done to her. She was defiantly different, she figured when she was done. Phoenix had, of course, the 'silver' hair, she was more toned, for crying out loud she even had a six-pack. Though she didn't look stupid, in fact she were, dare she say it, _sexy. _She was more developed, that was really weird, more curved, up top and down below. Her eyes were a deep dark green, more like a forest green, much darker than Sephiroth's piercing eyes though still with a similar glow, and when they caught the light it almost looked like red flame shimmered over them. The nails on her hands were also pointed, almost like she had had a demonic manicure or something. Most of all though she also realised that she stank. She mustn't have had a bath for over a week. Phoenix came out of the bathroom and saw Sephiroth stood there and she immediately blushed red. Had he been stood there knowing she had been examining yourself?

"Um…ah…em… can I…um…use the bath?" she stammered. She couldn't believe this. Why was she so red, it was ridiculous.

"Yes, that's fine but what about cloths?" Sephiroth answered,

"I…I don't…um have any spares so I'll…erm…have to just use these…" Sephiroth walked away and out of the room, she had just been about to walk back into the bathroom when he thrust some cloths at her. Phoenix looked down at them. _These wouldn't fit! _she thought,

"I can't use these…"

"Make do!" Sephiroth told her, "There's no point getting clean only to put filthy cloths back on and I don't wish to put up with the smell any longer," _WHAT? _she thought, _put up with the smell of all the nerve…_

"Well sooorrrryy for being unconscious and not being able to get changed or washed," she shouted, it made her angry, yet she didn't really want to put dirty cloths back on. Phoenix stormed into the bathroom. Sephiroth ignored her outburst, he had been completely truthful.

Phoenix went into the bathroom and calmed herself. He was right, she wouldn't want to hang around someone who stank all the time. She ran a hot bath and got herself cleaned up. _Where were you anyway? This couldn't be the lab, was this his house?_ Phoenix blushed red again, _had he been taking care of you this whole time?_ how embarrassing. Phoenix got out of the bath and dried herself with a towel, though her hair took ages to dry off, _did Sephiroth have this problem?_ She couldn't imagine him standing sorting his hair out. She then looked at the cloths he had given her, she sighed. They were, as expected, his. _Didn't he have some girlfriends cloths lying around? _she wondered. She got dressed, and she sufficed to say looked stupid. Sephiroth had obviously picked the smallest cloths he possessed but on Phoenix they were still huge, him being so tall and her, well, officially short by normal peoples standard. He had provided… _mental scream!_ a pair of boxers, trousers that were way too long in the leg so you had to fold them up several times, a belt to keep them on her waist and a seriously oversized T-shirt which she had to tuck in. No bra of course, and her original one didn't fit anymore. Not even close, in fact it was too painful to even squeeze on. Phoenix…Felt…Ridiculous. A clown wouldn't even try to look this bad. She came out of the bathroom with her own cloths and put them in an apparent washing basket making a mental note to get them cleaned as soon as possible, but she knew that she would need more than one change of cloths. She also needed some answers. This was all so crazy what was going on. Sephiroth had said Shinra would help get her home.

Phoenix went downstairs, being careful not to fall down the stairs, she did not want 'Death by oversized Trousers' to be written on her death certificate. Sephiroth's house was very impressive. In matter of fact it was more like a mansion. There were lots of rooms, a large open staircase that led down into quite a grand hallway, and as she looked for Sephiroth she was quite impressed by the living room, kitchen and various studies, music rooms, rooms for nothing but having a room for. There was even a library! _Wow, _she thought, _the guy has his own library. Coooool!_ Phoenix found another stairway that led down to a basement, and she was amazed. There was a swimming pool. He had a swimming pool in his basement. _Who was this guy?_ There was a training area too, along with Jacuzzi and sauna. There was also another room, and she could sense Sephiroth inside somehow. She walked over and a hydraulic door opened.

Defcon four.

The only thing that came to mind was defcon four if that existed, but if it did it would look like that. With Sephiroth in the middle.

"Computer Off!" he shouted. And suddenly it all just disappeared, leaving an empty room. Sephiroth looked up at her. And suddenly she just felt ridiculous again. She just stood there in the cloths he had given her turning beetroot. Sephiroth walked over and before she could react he leaned forward, close enough for her to feel his breath on her neck and breathed in. Phoenix almost died on the spot. 'Death by being smelt' would be on you death certificate instead.

"Much better," he said, in an almost mocking tone. Beetroot, didn't have a look in. She practically fell backward onto the floor as he walked past and up the stairs. _He had done that on purpose!_ she hung your head in shame. Humiliating shame.

It took 10 minutes for Phoenix to calm herself enough to walk upstairs to look for him again. She found him in the sitting room. She must have tried to open her mouth to talk about ten times, each time changing her mind. She wanted to ask, why he had said 'much better'? If he had any clothing that was more suitable? Where she was? What was going to happen? For that matter what had already happened? There were so many questions she wanted to ask, she must have looked like a fish and Sephiroth just looked at her with a moderately amused look on his face. Eventually she settled for,

"Don't you have any more suitable cloths? You know, maybe an ex or current girlfriends cloths?" she asked. After having Sephiroth glare at her, which gave Phoenix a serious case of the chills, and him not answering she said,

"Well?"

"No," he said simply.

"No? Are you sure? All I need is one outfit so I can…"

"No," he interrupted, "I have nor the time nor interest for romantic attachments,"

"Sooooo, no ex's then?" _So that means that Sephiroth had never had a girlfriend? _that's weird for a guy like him. Phoenix blushed again, at the thought that she actually thought of him as attractive. Phoenix wasn't naturally the type to find that many men attractive, and so it was rather uncomfortable, certainty something she wasn't used too. What made it worse was that when Sephiroth looked at her, she were certain that he knew what was going on in her head. For that matter she found it really strange that she could sense him, she didn't know how nor understand it (considering being able the sense someone was only something that happened in the movies or in a book), but she was aware of him somehow, she could not only see him sitting there but she could feel him sitting there. It was most defiantly weird. She sighed,

"So, what now then? I thought Shinra was going to help me find my way home but they only experimented on me. WHICH, by the way, I'm sure is against the laws of humanity," she looked at Sephiroth, though not in the eyes, waiting for some sort of answer. But none came, in fact Sephiroth stood up and said,

"I'm going out, wait here and don't leave the house," and he promptly left. _'wait here' he says, like I'm going to go out in these. _she thought. _Why hadn't he answered?_ she was defiantly a bit annoyed. She sat down for a while but after half an hour or so she decided that she needed to eat something, she was starving. Phoenix didn't like to just take food but she needed to eat something and she didn't know how long Sephiroth would be out. She went into the kitchen and looked through some of the cupboards, _maybe just something snacky_ she thought. She wasn't that much of a cook really, not to mention _very _picky but it seemed that there wasn't much in the cupboards. And no Chocolate at all. He didn't even have basics in, but eventually she found some crisps and a couple of other little bits but other than that the cupboards were completely bare. Phoenix looked at the food but quickly realised it was inedible and ended up with just some water, there being nothing else to drink…at all…then decided she was going to have more of a look around.

It was cold, Phoenix was always bothered by the cold, even when every one else said it wasn't cold, and since all Sephiroth had given her was a T-shirt, that meant she was naturally, cold. She figured walking around would put her mind off things. At least until Sephiroth got back and actually gave her some answers. She went round looking through all the rooms. They were all done nicely, somehow she didn't think Sephiroth was responsible for the décor. She went through all the numerous downstairs rooms then went upstairs, she didn't intrude too far into the rooms since this wasn't exactly your home. She wondered which of the 20 odd rooms was Sephiroth's. All the rooms were huge and as far as she could tell all had an en-suit bathroom including the one she had been in. He must have a hired maid, maybe she, if it was a she, could get her some cloths. One room defiantly had to be Sephiroth's. It was much more his style, so she imagined, and was the largest. She soooo wanted to go in but he could be back at any moment, she figured she could always look when she knew he wouldn't be back for a while. Just as she was about to close the door to leave she noticed his jacket laying across the bed, he hadn't taken it and she was cold. But it was _his_ jacket, and it was in _his_ room, if she put it on he would know that she had been _in_, said room. But she was cold, and he had given her some of his cloths to wear _surely he wouldn't mind if you borrowed his jacket?_ But this was _his_ jacket in _his_ room…but she was cold and cold won out. She _snook _in, though she didn't really know why she just felt you had too. Phoenix walked over to the bed and put on the jacket. It was humongous. But that just meant that it covered more of her up. She pulled up the hem and went downstairs and cuddled up on the couch and waited for the grilling she would get when he got back. _He would probably glare at you_, she thought, _though hopefully he wouldn't throw you out. But at least she was warm. _


	4. Chapter 4 Hidden Explanations

Chapter 4 - Hidden Explanations

She was going to have questions. Sephiroth knew that, but he had his own questions that he needed answering first. So he took off his long leather jacket and laid it on his bed before adorning a cloak. He was supposed to be dead after all so he thought keeping it like that would be a good idea, and a cloak would hide his appearance the most, and a hooded one would hide his long silver hair and he thought that it was best that he wasn't seen. Shinra, he knew was in itself not as it used to be. They were working more in the shadows now, the group calling themselves avalanche had caused them no end of trouble. At least if he was dead no-one would be getting in his way, and he still had a goal to accomplish, though he would have to sidetrack from it for now however and he would settle for figuring out all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that had landed on him. Who was Phoenix? What exactly was the full story of what had happened in the last seven years? And to that end he went looking for Hojo. Hojo was in his lab in the dilapidated building that was now Shinra. Sephiroth wasn't even sure that Hojo was working with Shinra now and was more into his own plans, but for now he considered them the same,

"Sephiroth," Hojo said mockingly, "And what brings you back to my lab hmmm? Where's the girl? Have you brought her with you?" Hojo seemed too eager to find out about her, but he was going to be the one asking the questions. Sephiroth just looked at him,

"Tell me Hojo," Sephiroth said in a low menacing voice, "What do you know about the materia that transported me through time? And WHAT do you know about Phoenix? Tell me…now," Hojo just looked at Sephiroth with a sneer on his face, he defiantly knew something but wouldn't let it up easily.

"And why should I tell you oh mighty Sephiroth, I won't be feeling the need to explain my knowledge to you…though perhaps," Hojo was being his usual tedious self.

"Though perhaps what?" Sephiroth asked, he wasn't in the mood for Hojo's sly talk,

"Well perhaps if you handed the woman over to me until…" Hojo began. Sephiroth was not having any of it, he would not hand over even his enemies to the likes of Hojo. Hojo found himself eye to eye with Sephiroth's Masamune.

"S-Sephiroth, if you kill me you will not get any answers," Hojo stated,

"Wrong Hojo, tell me, am I not supposed to be dead? I would think a dead man had all the time in the world to find answers, you are only the quickest method!" Sephiroth growled, "I would not have any problems killing you and taking my time finding my answers, since I know that somewhere there will be records to find!" and Sephiroth was serious. Hojo knew of course that there were records, hidden in the Shinra mansion in Nibelhiem, though if a person did not know where to look they could spend a long time looking, however he attempted to call Sephiroth's bluff,

"There are no records, they were stored in an outhouse of the mansion, unfortunately when you burned Nibelhiem they were all destroyed along with other material, it was a grave loss." but Sephiroth could tell he was lying. Hojo had never fully known the capabilities Sephiroth possessed, he had always held back a good portion of his abilities from him. The strength of his telepathy being one of them.

"Your lying," Sephiroth said simply, "Last chance Hojo," Hojo was not happy, to say the least, maybe he could disclose only some of the information and not all of it, what was certain was that Sephiroth would most defiantly kill him, he knew that Sephiroth possessed a measure of telepathy and assumed that he could probably tell if he lied but Hojo was unsure of the extent of Sephiroth's capabilities.

"Fine then, have it your way, now how about you sit down and we can talk this over?"

"I prefer to stand," Sephiroth stated, "Now lets start with the materia, I know that it was a summons materia so how about we skip that part and jump to the bit where you tell me how it transported me several miles and several years through time, then we can go on to Phoenix. And you can tell me from where you're standing, that means no setting off any alarms," Hojo was fuming, not that he showed it, he did not wish to disclose his research and yet it seemed he would have to and there was nothing he could do about it since he still had a desire to live, and so he told Sephiroth as little as possible, but still what he wanted to know. Unfortunately for Hojo, Sephiroth was an intelligent man, and asked questions that forced Hojo to disclose far more than he had ever wished too.

After a lengthy discussion with Hojo, at blade point, Sephiroth made his way back to his home, with a new outlook on a few things. Sephiroth seriously thought about killing everyone who knew of his presence including Hojo but decided for now to leave Hojo. Then after making a few not so subtle threats to those he had dealt with so far, dispatching those whom he thought wouldn't keep quiet, he left the lab. A few hours had passed, but now he had answers.

When Sephiroth got home he walked in to find Phoenix asleep on the couch, under _his jacket_, and that meant she must have been in his room. Sephiroth had walked in silently and so she had not woke up at his entrance. Sephiroth pondered for a short while over whether to wake her up or not, the indignation of her talking his jacket and using it to sleep under irked him, but she had only just come round from unconsciousness several hours ago, her body would have to recover, so she needed the sleep. Sephiroth suddenly found himself wondering if she had eaten, her body would need the nourishment too and he knew that she wouldn't have been able to find much food. In the end he decided to leave her for a while, he had a couple of errands to run, he would finish them, then if she was still asleep he would wake her and so he controlled his annoyance.

Sephiroth, promptly pulled Phoenix up, pulling the jacket off her as he did so. She had been soundly asleep and so she found herself on the floor unable to react quick enough to stay standing. She felt groggy, but got up and sat on the sofa. For Sephiroth waiting, a good minute passed before she was much aware of anything, but eventually she had looked up at him standing in front of her.

"Morning," she said, _why did I say that, _she was still a little out of it, but the glare that Sephiroth gave her was pretty much enough to wake her up at least a little more. She looked away.

"This," Sephiroth began, holding up his jacket so as to leave no doubt as to what he was talking about, "You will _not_ touch again, nor will you so much as go near my Masamune," he sounded very adamant and the coldness in his voice allowed her to know precisely that he meant it. She felt a shiver go down her spine.

"Now," his tone of voice changed, and a half smirk came over his face, _this is bad_ she thought. "since you seem to admire my clothing, above the common sense of perhaps grabbing a blanket, I got you some new cloths with that in mind." Sephiroth dropped a large bag of cloths at Phoenix's feet.

"Cloths? For me? But I don't have any money…"

"Don't worry about, it's a pleasure," Sephiroth stated. _Was he mocking you? _Phoenix decided that she should get changed, rather than staying in what she was in, so she got up and after telling Sephiroth what she was doing she went upstairs. She went to what she deemed to be 'her bedroom' and tipped out the clothes and proceeded to get changed.

Phoenix was ashamed, she came downstairs to complain but the complaint died on her lips when she saw the smirk on Sephiroth's face when she walked in. _He is soooo mocking me_ she thought, _he's done this on purpose! _She looked like a female version of Sephiroth. All the cloths he had acquired were pretty much the same, black tight low trousers, and short tight black leather crop tops, he had included a long black leather jacket and knee high boots, (thankfully not high heels). There were a few sets of each, but all were similar in style. She just glared at him.

"NOT funny!" she said, Sephiroth smirked, he obviously disagreed with her and found the situation humorous.

"Those cloths, barring the jacket, will be suitable, they will allow ease of movement during the training that I am going to be insisting you do!" Sephiroth stated.

"Training?" she questioned surprised. "What training? I just want to go home. I have a job, and bills to pay and responsibilities…"

"You will be staying here!" Sephiroth informed her, "And you will be training. I, will be training you from this point on."

"What? No! You can't be serious, I'm going home…you said Shinra would…" she began to argue but Sephiroth interrupted,

"You don't have a home here and there's no way in which to get you back to where you come from!" _What was that supposed to mean _Phoneix wondered. She found yourself quite irritated.

"Sephiroth you can't tell me that I _have_ tostay here, what are you going to do keep me prisoner?" Sephiroth glared at her, _he wouldn't? Would he?_ she worried.

"Phoenix," Sephiroth said coldly and warningly, "You WILL be remaining here…"

"WHY!" she shouted, "Give me one good reason why I should?" Sephiroth looked at her, he was not going to get her to remain quietly without telling her a few things first. He sighed.

"Alright, you wanted answers then here's some! Sit!" he indicated the sofa. Phoenix sighed to herself and did as he said, she wanted to know what had gone on, though she was tempted to walk out the door right now. "The place that you come from is not anywhere on this planet." he started,

"Oh come on, what's that supposed to mean, I'm from another planet," she said sarcastically,

"Yes, that's precisely what I'm saying," he responded. She couldn't believe it, it was ridiculous, _did he honestly expect you to believe this?_

"You know what, forget it Sephiroth you don't have to tell ridiculous stories." she stood up but as she did he easily pushed her back down.

"Alright Phoenix let me make myself perfectly clear, I an NOT making this up, I DO NOT lie." Sephiroth was looking Phoenix straight in the eye as he spoke, it was making her very uncomfortable. She looked away but she could almost feel his eyes drilling into her. "NOW, listen quietly!" he stated.

"YOU, come from a planet you call Earth, but this is NOT Earth, this planet is Gaia. The materia…" _oh no here we go, he wants me to believe in magic again_ she thought, Sephiroth continued "…that transported me away from the reactor and you from your home, which I have learned is in a separate dimension from this one." she remained silent for now, waiting to see if he said any more. "So that means that there is no way for you to get home, it was a fluke. There's more to the story, Hojo, that doctor, is actually a scientist and he has manipulated your genetics, you are now more like the SOLDIER members." Sephiroth stopped, the look on her face said it all, 'yea right'.

"Fine then, I guess you will have to figure things out a little differently." Sephiroth left the room for a short while then came back with a cloak on, he pulled Phoenix up and dragged her, though not with her full cooperation, he took her outside and flew off carrying her as he had done the first time, as in by her arm and her shouting rather loudly. After a short 'flight' that was longer than she would have liked, Sephiroth landed,

"Now, that is Midgar," Sephiroth indicated a nearby city, he had landed just on the outskirts. "Go wherever you want, do whatever you want, see what you can find out from a city full of people. I will be following silently, when you are done come back here and…" here Sephiroth's voice became so menacing that Phoenix almost wished to curl up and protect herself, "don't mention ANYTHING about me by name nor about my abilities or sword, lest I kill you where you stand!" she felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck and a chill run down her spine, she knew he was serious. All she could do at that moment, was agree. Sephiroth gave her some money and dismissed her. She walked away still with a shiver of cold inside. _Why couldn't you talk about him? she wondered, though she was not going to tempt fate and find out._


	5. Chapter 5 Midgar part 1

Chapter 5 - Midgar part 1

Phoenix could feel him nearby, as she walked through the city he had called Midgar. She couldn't believe that he had brought her out to a strange city when she had been unconscious for days and only just woke up not to mention that she hadn't eaten. Not that she really knew him, or what kind of person he was but she couldn't imagine any rational person abandoning someone who had just awoke from a week long coma…if you could call it a coma. _Well there's nothing I can do about it now, _she figured and she just decided that she would at least look around.

Midgar was a very strange place, it almost looked like an 'as was modern day city gone wrong' sort of town. It was bustling with people going about their business. She figured it to be mid afternoon, and soon found out it was early tea time about 4 o'clock. She was hungry, walking about seemed so tiring, but then Sephiroth had told her that she had been unconscious for a few days, and now he had her walking about a town before she'd had time to eat anything. She felt a little stupid, she wasn't used to showing off so much skin and Sephiroth had not given her time to pick up the jacket he had given her, she was rather self conscious, and very cold. She really wasn't sure where to go so she just kept walking thinking that she would look for some kind of bus stop but she found nothing of the kind. She felt so tired, and hungry. Someone wolf whistled as they passed by and she cringed, almost jumping backwards away from them, she bumped into someone.

"Oh I'm sorry," she turned round a little too fast and wavered feeling dizzy,

"Oh hey careful there watch yourself," the man said, Phoenix stood up straight recovering a little but still feeling light headed. Sephiroth, watching silently from the distance, couldn't believe the coincidence. Cloud. He had heard that he was running a bit of a business in the area. From the histories Sephiroth had read through of the past 7 years, and what Hojo had said he had learnt that though he wasn't exactly present his 'essence' had played it's part in history. He had learnt from Hojo that Jenova had manipulated a 'copy' of him. A copy that was powerful and almost indistinguishable from himself except in will power and strength. Apparently Jenova had used something called the black materia, which Sephiroth had heard of, and summoned meteor to destroy Gaia but was ultimately defeated by Cloud and Avalanche though Cloud had been unaware of the fact that the real Sephiroth wasn't even in existence at that point in time. Cloud looked at Phoenix,

"Are you alright?" he asked, Phoenix looked up and saw a young man with spiky blonde hair, _if only there weren't two of him. _She closed her eyes for a moment collecting herself then opening her eyes as a woman walked up beside the man.

"Cloud? What's going on?" she asked

"Oh, nothing really, she bumped into me, she doesn't look too well, I was just asking if she was ok?" he responded. The woman looked at Phoenix concerned,

"You know, you do look kinda pale, maybe you should sit down for a bit," she said,

"No, no no I'm alright, I just think I need to get something to eat and sit down for a bit I'm sure I'll be fine." Phoenix moved to walk away but the woman stood in her way,

"Well, we run a bar not too far from here you can come in there and I'll fix you something up," She was rather insistent and Phoenix seemed to be having another one of those 'how did I get here' moments. She was glad to sit down and to be out of the cold.

"What would you like to drink?" the woman asked,

"No, it's ok I'm sure I'll be fine if I just sit for a while…" Phoenix paused, "I don't have much money," she figured Sephiroth wouldn't have given her very much. She pulled out the few notes he had given her, and showed her,

"Haven't got much money, that's more than plenty," she stated.

"What?" Phoenix asked _plenty?_ she wondered. She looked very puzzled,

"What's wrong?" she asked,

"I'm sorry, I've never really handled this currency before, I'm not from around here…here is this enough? Do you have Diet Coke or orange juice?" she asked

"Enough? It's enough with plenty of change, I'll go get you some juice, I can't say I've ever heard of Diet Coke though. What about food?" She asked, "Oh and my names Tifa by the way,"

"Oh, I'm called Phoenix, and errmmmm what food have you got?" she asked

"Oh well it's our policy to get the client what they want so long as it's reasonable, so take your pick," she stated,

"Well have you got chicken? And chips?"

"Yep no problem, and I'll bring you the change over, you just take it easy," And so you sat there while the woman named Tifa made you something to eat. The blond man, whom Tifa had called Cloud, _must be a nickname_ Phoenix figured, brought her her juice and checked she was ok. She looked around, there was a creepy guy in a red cloak who resembled a vampire being harassed by a hyper young girl about materia. It was a strange sight and Phoenix found herself just staring until Tifa brought her food and the change.

"Here you go," she said, and noticing what Phoenix was looking at she said, "Oh don't worry about them, that's Vincent, and the girl is Yuffie, they're friends, now eat up and I hope you enjoy." Phoenix thanked Tifa and ate. She was so hungry. She ate most of it, Tifa had given her a fair amount, she just hoped it wouldn't be too much on her stomach.

"Where are you staying?" Tifa asked when she came to collect the plate. Phoenix wasn't sure what to answer, she found herself 'feeling' mentally for Sephiroth. It was strange, she didn't understand how she could feel his presence but she could, and she could feel him relatively nearby, and she could also tell he wasn't too happy. _Had I done something wrong?_ she wondered,

"Emm I haven't found anywhere yet, I was with a friend but it kinda went heads up so to speak," she decided on saying. Phoenix needed to figure out some things and so she dared to ask,

"Em…Tifa could I ask you a few things?"

"Yea," she said, "Sure, but if you need somewhere to stay you can rent a room here if you like."

"Really? I don't know at the minute, maybe you could help me clear up a few things first?" Phoenix asked, "You see I know it sounds really weird but I have no idea how exactly I got here, and I'm not really sure where here is in relation to home, I kinda got lost," she tried to put on a 'stupid me' kind of look, which is kind of how she felt saying it.

"Oh well I'm sure we can help where do you call home?" Tifa asked,

"It's near a place called Bishop Auckland, which is in County Durham, England," she told Tifa, _this is it_ she thought, _this is where Sephiroth and his this is not Earth theory comes crashing down_ she felt quite smug about it. That was until Tifa's face screwed up and she said,

"Sorry never heard of the place," Tifa turned around, "CLOUD, have you ever heard of a place called Bishop Auckland in a place called County-Durham-England?"

"No…I don't think so, no place I've ever heard of," he answered back.

"What about you Vincent, Yuffie?" Tifa asked, Vincent just looked and said a barely audible

"No" whilst Yuffie came bounding over

"What? A bee shop in awkward land? Who'd sell bee's?" she said quite brightly, Phoenix was shocked, they couldn't surely be having her on, maybe Sephiroth put them up to it,

"No, it's called Bishop Auckland, it's in England," Phoenix put her right.

"England?" Yuffie muttered over the word, "Which continent is it in?" she asked

"That'd be Europe!" _oh come on even primary scholars know where Europe is_ Phoenix thought but no, everyone seemed flummoxed.

"Europe!" Yuffie repeated, "Never heard of no Europe. That's not a continent, it's not in Wutai anyway and I should know it anyway my Dad knows all about places so I know all about geography and there ain't no place called U-rope, inland or awkward land!" At that she walked away. Or more like sprang away. _They must all be in league with Sephiroth _that was all there was to it.

"Ok seriously you've never heard of England?" she asked

"No I'm sorry," Tifa shrugged,

"Alright alright, I get it my friend put you up to this didn't he, he must know you and he's having me on well Ha Ha on me.." Phoenix started to say but stopped when Tifa looked genuinely hurt,

"Oh no, I'm sorry I didn't mean to…Oh I'm sorry it's just that I thought that everyone…" Phoenix didn't know what to say, she could feel Sephiroth mentally smug. She could also feel everyone looking at her. Cloud came over,

"You know Tifa's not like that, neither her nor any of us would lie like that," he didn't seem very happy,

"No," Phoenix said in defence, "No I just thought it was a joke not a lie, you know like a joke, I'm sorry Tifa, I was wrong I…I just thought it was a joke," she stammered, she felt awful. Tifa took a breath,

"Cloud, it alright," she said, smiling again, "I think Phoenix just misunderstood," she turned to her, "I'm sorry Phoenix but I've really never heard of the places your telling me about but your welcome to have a look at any of our maps," she turned back to Cloud, "Do you mind getting one?" Cloud did not look completely placated but never the less brought a few maps and when Phoenix saw them she was confused, she screwed her face up in bafflement.

"Do you have a world map?" she asked,

"This is a world map Phoenix," Tifa said looking a little confused herself at Phoenix's confusion.

"What, No? I don't get it!" Phoenix said frustrated. "This, none of this is what I know, do you have a pen and paper?" she enquired. Cloud who seemed to be errand boy at the moment brought some and Phoenix promptly drew a rough sketch outline of the Earth's continents and England. "That's what I know, Australia," and she pointed as she spoke, "Africa, America, North and South, Asia, and Europe with England right there." she looked up at them only to notice that they were all looking at her very doubtfully,

"Who in the world told you the planet looked like that? Your teacher must have been seriously drunk! I mean where's Wutai on that?" Yuffie mentioned, she had come over to see your artists rendition, "Either that or you're a realllllllly bad drawer,"

"Actually that's pretty accurate. But if that's not how the world looks and your map is then I guess I must be on a different world!" Phoenix said, and once again everyone just looked at her, she sighed, "Look I'm not nut's…"

"Oh yes you are if you think the world looks like that!" Yuffie interrupted,

"I'm not nut's, look I went to school and learnt all this, watched TV programmes and it's not just me it's everyone on the planet, everyone knows that IS the planet but since I got here nothing is right!" she was so frustrated. She didn't understand, could Sephiroth be right, was she in an alternate dimension planet somehow? She put her head in her hands, "I don't get it?" she sighed and tried to calm herself, Tifa tried to help but she was so confused. "It's ok, I'm alright, I just…I'm confused…My friend said that I was from another dimension, of course I thought that was ridiculous but now I'm beginning to wonder,"

"Well who's you friend? Maybe we should find them and talk to them?" Cloud said,

"Sorry but no, if I told he'd have my hide, and I say friend but the truth is I don't really know much about him he just helped me when I showed up here."

"Well it would seem that he may have more information on the matter that we do, I suppose he could be right, after some of the things I've seen you never know," Cloud said, it seemed he had gotten over his irritation a little. "Are you sure you don't know where he is?"

"Sorry, like I said things kinda went heads up in that department but seriously just about everything is like no place that exists of |Earth, I mean there was a strange creature that chased me…"

"A wraith!" Yuffie jumped up and down, "You were chased by a wraith? Ha ha why didn't you just kill it?"

"Yuffie not all people are like that you know most people can't," Tifa said

"Kill it? It was a huge bear, dog, horse thing I couldn't have done a thing other than run, thankfully my friend, person, took care of it otherwise I'd be food for a strange creature that as far as I'm concerned shouldn't exist,"

"Of course wraiths exist silly, why would you think they didn't?" Yuffie chipped in

"Yuffie could you calm down just a little please," Cloud said,

"I was only asking," she retorted and walked of in a mope, Phoenix sighed, maybe if she told them a bit more, she thought about Shinra but thought better of mentioning it, she still couldn't explain it but she knew that Sephiroth was giving her a mental warning.

"Well, as well as that," she said being very careful about her words, "The man who helped me talked about magic as if it was real I mean how stupid is that!"

"Oh you mean materia right? Well there're not exactly commonplace everywhere but they are defiantly real, everyone knows about materia," Tifa said. And that's when Yuffie came bouncing over again,

"Did someone mention materia? What have you got some?" she asked enthusiastically, "I didn't think you would have any on you there's no where to hide any! Ooooppps, didn't mean to say that last part. Hey, don't look at me like that Cloud I haven't done anything," Cloud was looking at her suspiciously,

"Yuffie have you…?" he queried, with a warning tone,

"I ain't done nothing," Yuffie defended herself, "You know you shouldn't turn on your friends Cloud, maybe you should be asking her why she looks like a remnant!" And that was it, like a trigger word had been spoken, suddenly, and to Phoenix inexplicably, everyone moved back from her, everyone suddenly looked to her as if she was a terrorist,

"You know, actually," Cloud began, "You're very much like a Sephiroth remnant," Phoenix looked at him, hearing Sephiroth's name caught her off guard, she quickly tried to cover it up, but everyone was on guard. She looked around at them all and noticed that the man in the red cape was pointing a gun at her. Panic time, with a shout she quickly ducked under the table,

"Woah hey, what's going on? I haven't done anything," Phoenix shouted, her heart was racing.

"Vincent," Tifa said, " It's alright let's just ask a few questions before we jump to conclusions! She doesn't seem like a remnant!" Phoenix could just say see Vincent from under the table, still pointing the gun at her, but slowly he lowered it, though he kept it in his grasp.

"Fine," he said coldly. She couldn't really tell by the look on his face but he was defiantly showing an interest,

"Now, get out from under the table." Cloud said, Phoenix wasn't particularly inclined to, but did so slowly.

"I…I…I ermmm have no idea what a rem thingy is," she stuttered.

"Remnant," Tifa said, "A remnant of…Sephiroth," she didn't seem to like saying his name as she mulled it over as she said it. _Who was Sephiroth to make these people turn so drastically?_ she wondered. She could feel Sephiroth in her mind quite profoundly, she found herself in a cold sweat, she knew he was listening somehow.

"What's a Sephiroth?" she said quietly, she wondered if she could escape but Cloud was in line with the door. They all looked at her suspiciously and Vincent must have noticed her eyeing the door,

"Don't think of trying to leave," he stated. Phoenix swallowed but her mouth was dry. She wouldn't be able to get out. She felt Sephiroth more and more in her mind, it was close to overwhelming.

"You know, Sephiroth! Bringer of death and destruction, destroyer of worlds!" Yuffie was saying. _What? Bringer of death? What does that mean?_ she tried, quite genuinely to look confused, _but if they found out you knew this Sephiroth then they might kill you_. She swallowed nervously again.

"Nope, I've never heard of Sephiroth," she said but she could see them all looking at her suspiciously. But no more than Vincent. His eyes drilled into her and it almost reminded her a little of Sephiroth, not that she was going to say that. There was no way around it she was defiantly scared, _I mean the guy had pulled a gun on her _she thought and he wasn't going to miss from that distance, but worst of all she felt faint from the menacing, intently watching mind of Sephiroth that was near close to overwhelming her. It made it hard to think.

"Look Cloud I don't think she's a remnant!" Tifa said, but neither Cloud nor Vincent seemed convinced.

"Tifa, you know remnants don't exactly all know that they are remnants, and she has some bizarre ideas going on," Cloud told her, "Who do you know that has silver hair like hers that isn't a remnant? And if you look at her eyes she's defiantly had mako treatment!"

"What? No I'm not on any medication nor have I ever been!" Phoenix argued but Cloud just glared at her. She shied back, _Would Sephiroth help if they tried to kill me?_ she wondered but then immediately dismissed the idea. Vincent came over and taking hold of your head with a strong grip he looked into her face up close, as if he was trying to see something, her truth or lies.

"What do you know of Sephiroth?" he asked, Phoenix tried to pull away but was unable to do so. She could feel what felt like someone trying to ease into her mind. It didn't feel like Sephiroth, _could it be Vincent? _She tried to pull again but as she did she could feel him burying his way into her mind. But much to Vincent's surprise he hit a massively strong mental brick wall. Phoenix felt strange, she could still move, and talk but she felt like her mind was trapped, trapped inside a steel room. Sephiroth had put up an immensely strong mental barrier inside her head, a vice like grip on her mind, holding back Vincent's mental attack. The problem was, was that that only made Vincent more suspicious,

"Nothing," she answered his question, hoping that he wouldn't catch on to her lie. Vincent let go of her.

"She's hiding something!" he stated.

"Look if it's alright with you guys I'll be leaving now," Phoenix slowly got up, and slowly made her way to the door. They let you leave, but Tifa wasn't happy about it.

"Phoenix!" she shouted out the door coming after her. "Phoenix, I'm sorry I'm really sorry it's just that…"

"Look just forget about it, I'm leaving I know when I'm not wanted." Phoenix said. She was quite shaken up, and stressed. Tifa came round in front of her,

"But you've nowhere to go, you told me so, the guys seriously overreacted but it's understandable, at least just a little. If Sephiroth were to come back…" she left the sentence ominously unfinished but Phoenix could tell from her face that to her at least Sephiroth's return would be disastrous. _Why were they so concerned over Sephiroth? _she wondered.

"What has that got to do with me?" she said, louder than she meant too.

"Nothing, nothing if your not a remnant," Tifa said

"I don't even know what a remnant IS Tifa, or a Sephiroth," Phoenix insisted.

"Please Phoenix let me explain, please I don't want you thinking we're all horrible because we're not, please Phoenix," Tifa pleaded.

"Oh fine you've got 5 minutes." Phoenix said, she didn't really want too but Tifa seemed so sincere. She moved over to the side of the pavement, "But there's no way I'm going back there, that vampire man was threatening me with a gun," Phoenix said, Tifa just looked at her and started to giggle,

"Vampire man?" she giggled some more, "you mean Vincent, that's funny," she sighed in amusement.

"So?" Phoenix asked, "I'm counting down,"

"Oh yes," Tifa reminded herself, back to the point, "Alright what has it got to do with you, you ask? Well we'll start with Sephiroth,"

"Right fine then what's a Sephiroth?" she asked

"It's who not what," she responded, Phoenix was a little curious as to what Tifa was going to say. She 'checked' on Sephiroth. He was still nearby. Tifa continued, "Sephiroth was a SOLDIER 1st class in Shinra," Tifa just got a blank look. "Ok so from the beginning then, Shinra was a power company, it's not around now…" _She didn't know that_ _Shinra was still around_ Phoenix pondered over her words, "…but sufficed to say they did experiments on people amongst other things. Now, they had there own army so to speak and the SOLDIER 1st class were the best of the best and Sephiroth was the best out of them." She stopped to breathe and make sure Phoenix was keeping up. "Soooo, to cut a long story short Sephiroth was an experiment, sort of, anyway when he found out he went crazy and hurt and killed a lot of people and tried to destroy the world pretty much. He used a materia that, well too much detail but sufficed to say he killed loads of people. You still holding up?" she asked,

"Yea I'm still with you, sort of!" Phoenix told her,

"Well Cloud defeated Sephiroth and killed him about 7 years ago, then again not too long back, but Sephiroth's will to live was strong and so three remnants of him appeared. They were Loz, Kadaj and Yazoo, they all had silver hair and green eyes though none as strong as Sephiroth. So basically a remnant is a remnant of a person, in their case Sephiroth and a remnant can become the real thing under the right circumstances." she explained. "And if that happened, it would be a disaster, literally, now Sephiroth's remnants were defeated but if you were one then world could be in danger again and that's why they reacted the way they did. They jumped to conclusions, I suppose like you did with me but they went overboard! I'm sorry really I am, I know you've got nowhere to go so please come back, you can stay for free to make up for how they behaved!" she pleaded. Phoenix sighed,

"That's good of you Tifa but somehow I don't think your friends over there are happy with that idea," she indicated behind her. Cloud and Vincent were watching vigilantly. "It's alright I'll find somewhere and I'll hold it against them not you, you seem nice. Thanks for the food Tifa and thanks for explaining thinks though but I'll see ya around sometime maybe," and with that Phoenix walked away, Tifa wasn't all that bad she thought but she didn't want a repeat of that situation. She wanted to find Sephiroth, _could he really be that terrible? she wondered. _


	6. Chapter 6 Midgar part 2

Chapter 6 - Midgar part 2

Phoenix walked around for a bit, was she really in another world, she was sure things like that couldn't really happen but thinking logically it was the only conclusion, it was still crazy though. She had woken up with Sephiroth, a guy whom apparently was the greatest threat to the planet since…well since…since the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs and now she was living with the guy…sort of. It was all too much, how could it all be real? Phoenix's sense of reality was being seriously tested, is this how some crazy people were, unable to tell reality from make believe. All she really knew at the end of the day was what was in front of her, she could see this strange city, the likes of which didn't exist on earth, she could hear what people had told her and yet the need to rationalise it was driving her crazy herself. She needed to talk to Sephiroth again and compare what Tifa had said to her with him. She could feel Sephiroth nearby and she aimed for his presence but found that as she moved toward him he was moving away. Her mind felt strange, it was like an immensely heavy weight was pressing down on her, smothering her,

"_Your being followed!" _she heard in her mind. She jumped. Looking around expecting to see Sephiroth but realizing that she hadn't heard it out loud. This was strange, she thought, she felt like her mind was going to explode,

"_Please say you can't hear this?" _she thought tentatively

"_Of course I can, I can hear all your thoughts Phoenix," _Sephiroth thought back, with a rather smug tone. It was very creepy, creepy and wrong, besides impossible, but Phoenix was slowly figuring that impossible was more possible that usual lately, though the thought that he could hear all her thoughts was highly disturbing, though sensing that his mental presence was too much for her Sephiroth calmed the intensity of his mind easing her stress,

"_Who's following me? And Where?" _she mentally asked. She couldn't believe she was having a mental conversation, crazy people talked to people in their heads, she sighed.

"_Vincent, and he's on the roof of the building beside you,"_ Sephiroth told her. She walked on for a bit then stopped when she found a quiet area in a park of sorts, well if you could call it a park when there was no greenery or kids or…or anything park like at all really.

"_What about now?"_ she asked, wondering if Sephiroth would reply.

"_See where the building on your left meets the park corner and you've got him," _Sephiroth told her. She quickly turned round and saw him making sure that she had eye contact. Vincent, knowing that Phoenix had seen him didn't bother trying to hide,

"Why are you following me?" Phoenix shouted over, she couldn't believe that the freak with the gun had followed her. "Just leave me alone. I left didn't I? Isn't that enough?" Vincent stood quietly watching her, saying nothing. She continued to walk away and she soon appeared to loose him but Sephiroth told her that he was still there. After faking looking for somewhere to stay for a while she came across a church. Out of strange curiosity she decided to go in there wondering whether a 'vampire' would be able to follow. It was bit of a run down church but the architecture and the dilapidation somehow worked in its favour. An area of the floor was missing and in that area flowers had grown up through the floor, it was quite beautiful. Not to mention the only greenery she had seen down here,

"_Has Vincent followed me in here?" _she mentally asked Sephiroth.

"_Yes he has, he's behind a pillar by the doorway,"_ he informed her, _Guess he's not a vampire then, _Phoenix thought to herself.

"Vincent!" she said, "WHY are you following me?" she looked over and saw him standing there. "Answer me!" she insisted. Vincent sighed and after a moments more silence he answered,

"I don't trust you," he said as if that would explain everything. Irritation washed over her, she was tired and annoyed and frustrated,

"You don't trust me!" she repeated back, "I haven't done anything to warrant you following me, I'll report you for stalking or something and I'm not a figment,"

"Remnant!" he corrected her, _aaaaaaaaahhhhhh_ she mentally screamed,

"Whatever, figment, remnant, fragment, what does it matter you're the one who pulled a gun on me unwarranted." she said back, "And now your following me! Just leave me alone you have no idea what I've been through and having you stalk me doesn't help," he looked at her blankly. Phoenix was supremely irritated,

"Oh, and what have you been through?" Vincent asked. She knew that she had to be careful over what she said because of Sephiroth but she just had to say something,

"What have I been through, well let me see first I pass out in a flash of light and find myself in a completely different world thinking I had been kidnapped and drugged and who knows what with a man whom I think is going to rape me, then I get almost killed by a creature that doesn't exist in my world," she said all in one breath, then taking one she continued, "And you know I didn't always look like this, this is new to me, I had short brown frizzy hair, dull eyes, I was short, this…" indicating herself, "…is new. It's a complete change and now I find that people want to kill me because of the way I look!" She didn't really want to go into any more specifics, besides, she could sense Sephiroth giving her a silent warning, but it seemed that at least a little she had piqued Vincent's curiosity, though it wasn't curiosity she wanted, she just wanted him to leave her alone,

"What do you mean you didn't look the way you do now until recently?" he asked.

"I mean that I went to sleep my old self and woke up like this then I preceded to freak about it!" Phoenix answered. Vincent was curious, she seemed to be telling the truth but if that were the case how could she suddenly just change her appearance. Phoenix seemed to be done venting but then she said something that sparked a thought,

"How would you like to wake up and see a complete stranger in the mirror and not have a clue as to how it was possible?" she asked. Vincent found himself thinking of when he had awoken after the experiments that had been done on him. _Could she have been experimented on?_ he wondered. But if that were the case then who had done the experiments. _But when? Could she have been in slumber as he had been?_

"Before anything strange happened to you what date was it?" he asked

"The Date?" _What did that have to do with anything? _"The 12th of February…ish," Phoenix said,

"What year?" Vincent asked,

"2010," she continued in an 'like duh' kind of voice,

"There is no such date as 2010. It's year 9 of the new calendar. (I think - could easily be wrong about the date hope any readers forgive me) you said you went to sleep then woke up different, did you lose any time?" he inquired. _Oh oh_ Phoenix thought _this is getting a little to close for comfort._

"Why do you care if I did or didn't! Just stop following me," she shouted,

"Because I think someone may have used you as an experiment and if that's the case then I owe you a partial apology, depending upon what happened," he explained,

"An apology, ohhhh we're way past that, you would have killed me…"

"That was just defence…"

"Oh like I care, you pointed a _gun_ at me…"

"You could have been dangerous…"

"Could have…wasn't, I'm innocent I haven't done anything…"

"WE didn't know that…"

"Yea well I'm not, so just leave me alone, I've got enough problems of my own without YOU threatening to KILL ME, just go away, you won't ever see me again!" she stormed past Vincent and left the church, she seriously hoped that he wouldn't follow her. She walked for about 15 minutes before mentally asking Sephiroth if Vincent had followed and to her eternal delight he told her he hadn't. The problem was, was that she was lost. She didn't know how to get back to the meeting point. It was eerily quiet where she had walked to, not that many places were particularly populated. She thought that maybe she could just meet up with Sephiroth here and she was about to mentally speak with him when she saw a group of people. _So much for that idea_ she thought. She continued walking but stopped for a moment when she heard whistling_ Uch!_ she cringed.

"Woooo, hey there hot stuff!" one of the group of people hollered over, Phoenix kept walking and didn't look over but suddenly someone stepped out in front of her.

"Hey look what we have here, you out looking for a good time hun?" the guy said. He was tallish and looked quite well built which Phoenix was guessing was a bad thing for her right now. The others came up behind her. _Crud_ she thought. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her nerves were on end, she didn't know this place but she didn't think that this was a good situation no matter where she was, she just hoped that they were all bark and no bite.

"Yeah sweetheart maybe you could hang out with us for a bit," another one said. Phoenix was worried, seriously worried. The men looked at her expectantly,

"You know we could show you a good night, give you a thrill," the one in front of her said. "Well, what do you say?" he asked with a filthy look on his face, the smell of sweat and dirt was emanating from him,

"Emmmm, I'd love to really," she desperately tried to think of something to say, "This is my first night here and I'd love someone to show me around but you see at the moment I have to meet up with my boyfriend, he's waiting for me right now…" several of them jeered at her at that sentence,

"Oh yea? Well forget your boyfriend, we can give you a much better time so how abouts you pay us for our services then … we'll service you!" he leered at her as though she was a piece of juicy meat that he was going to buy letting his eyes look over her body. She felt violated just having him look at her, she backed away only to be grabbed by one of the men behind her,

"Hi precious, since its such a warm night why don't you take off a few layers," he said,

"No, no I'm actually a little cold," Phoenix replied, she didn't know what to do, could she really get away from these guys? She had a random thought of that ninja girl, she would probably tell them to get lost then beat them up but something told her that that wouldn't work for her. She tried to pull away from the man that was holding onto her but his grip was too tight, he wasn't letting her go. She almost wished the Vincent had still been following her.

"Then maybe some not so low impact aerobics will help warm you up," the guy in front said looking like he had just said something clever. Her mind was racing, _how could I get out of this. _She rather pathetically tried stamping on the foot of the guy holding her, she had it laid out in her mind, she would stamp on his foot then elbow him in the stomach, whilst kicking the guy in front in the crotch then attempting to make a run for it, and it all worked perfectly, at least in her head, but when she stamped on the guys foot all he said was,

"Ohhhhh was that supposed to hurt? Looks like this is a feisty one lads." and he gripped her more tightly. That was it, she just went for it for all she had, shouting, kicking, hitting and anything else that came to mind, she got a couple of shots in but nothing that really did anything. The man holding her slapped his hand over her mouth, which she tried to bite, but sudden pain from a hit in the stomach left her winded and gasping for breath. They dropped her to the ground where she struggled for air holding her stomach. She wished again that she was back in the pub, at least there she could talk to them a bit.

"Now how about we get those cloths off." the guy in front said, she presumed him to be the leader. Phoenix tried pitifully to get up to run but another one kicked her in the side sending her back to the ground. She was panicking but she felt helpless, It was then that one grabbed both of her wrists and held them tightly to the ground above her head whist two others, avoiding her kicks, both pinned a leg each. Phoenix was terrified, she was completely unable to fight back. She could hear the blood pounding in her ears, her breathing harsh, she was so close the crying. Against one she may just have had a chance but in total there were seven of them all ganging up on her,

"Ok me first boys then the rest of you can have your fun," the leader said, rubbing his hands together like he had been given a present.

"No let me go!" she shouted, "Let me go!" She hoped someone might hear her and help, but her hope was frail and weak. Phoenix continued struggling but to no avail, she was well and truly pinned down. The leader got down between her legs and aloud his hand to move up her leg and then walking his fingers up her stomach. Phoenix was struggling for all she was worth, the feel of him touching her making her feel sick to her stomach knowing that he had worse things in mind. He lifted up his hand and leaning forward reached and grabbed some of her hair lifting it up,

"Hmmmmm, such lovely hair such a shame to get it dirty and all," he said letting it drop enlisting a series of jaunts from the other guys, he undid the belt holding his trousers up then moved his hand to run over her stomach moving his hand up towards her breasts.

_No…Sephiroth!_ She hoped that someone would help, she would even take the vampire over this, but she wasn't expecting any help, she could feel hot tears beginning to sting her eyes and run down her cheek but she renewed her efforts to struggle and as she shouted one of them gagged her. He raised his hand further up her stomach closer and closer to her breast, though just a mere inch away he suddenly stopped, the air had gone ice cold,

"That will be enough," she heard a familiar voice and felt that suffocating presence, Sephiroth, though his voice at that moment was like a melody of a thousand angels singing and his presence washed over her like a comforting blanket. She had never been so happy in all her life to hear someone, anyone than at that moment. It was almost shameful how happy she was for a man to show up.

"Theioffovme," she murmured through her gag. The guy had halted because of the sharp metal that lightly cut into his neck. It was a dagger.

"Let her go," she could hear the venom in his voice and the suffocating presence that she felt intensified, it still soothed her yet it still gave her the chills.

"Who the **** are you to get in our business?" one of the guys said,

"Who are you to prey on the innocent?" Sephiroth snapped back, though he knew that he was not exactly one to talk about that,

"No-ones ever innocent you freak," the leader said having jumped up and away from the dagger. The men who had been holding Phoenix down had also moved away, they were putting up a front but it was obvious that the chills she got from Sephiroth's presence was affecting them too. She still felt winded but Sephiroth leaned down and pulled her up. Her legs were wobbly but she was NOT going to look that pathetic as to have to be held up so she braced herself as best she could. She pulled out the gag,

"Seph…" she began but he quickly interrupted before she could utter his name.

"WHAT, did I tell you about my name?" he warned quiet but threatening, the look he gave her defiantly made her stay quiet, it was like something out of a movie, the shaded face but eyes that almost glowed. "Now what shall I do with you lot?" he asked looking back at the men but to no-one in particular. "I can't let you just go off without punishment after what you did now can I?"

"Oh yea and what you gonna do about it huh, You her boyfriend? Well buddy there's only one of you and seven of us, you caught us off guard before but now your gonna pay! So what's a sissy boy like you gonna do huh?" the leader said urging his gang on. They all jeered him on agreeing with comments like 'yea a sissy boy' and 'seven to one' and 'boyfriends gonna pay'.

"ONE," Sephiroth barked making every last one of them jump, "I'm going to discipline you, TWO, I'm not her boyfriend, THREE, the seven of you all together couldn't touch me and FOUR is the same as one," Sephiroth mocked them. They were not happy and she didn't see them as good odds.

"Oh yea you and who's army?" one said.

"I'm a one man army," Sephiroth stated, his voice full of malice that made a shiver run down her spine and by the looks of things the men too. She shamelessly hid behind him a little and said quietly,

"Maybe we should just make a run for it," Sephiroth turned slightly to look as her,

"Since you have no idea what you just indicated I'll let you off for that statement. Don't worry, a hundred of these pathetic losers couldn't so much as make me break a sweat." he replied. As far as Phoenix was concerned Sephiroth seemed to be antagonising them and she thought of running for it herself but although she was fearful of the gang she didn't think that she would be able to get away. Though she still found herself backing further away, the instinct to flee was defiantly overriding everything else, that was until he said,

"Phoenix, stay where you are!" and she found herself irresistibly unable to do anything but what he said, it was like he had used THE FORCE or something. The gang however were insulted that Sephiroth was taking them so lightly. They pulled out weapons, they each had their own preferences. One had a small gun, two had knives, another a piece of pipe ect, they had obviously not spent a lot of time acquiring them but were ready to use them, and yet they still looked apprehensive. Phoenix had a thought that either Sephiroth was stupid for facing them or they were stupid for facing him, she wasn't sure which yet,

"Alright your gonna get it now, no-one insults my boys!" the leader shouted as if he really cared about their honour.. He was sporting a gun also and raised it up to take aim at Sephiroth, and Phoenix heard the shot. She was horrified there was no way Sephiroth could dodge at such a distance.

"NO!" she shouted involuntarily her heart pounding in her ears. He had been shot, or had he? Her only chance was to run,

"PHOENIX!" he said sharply, "Stay where you are" he repeated. Sephiroth was still standing, she hadn't seen him move but she was sure that the leader would not have missed.

"Are…are you alright?" she asked, she moved forward a little to see, being wary of the men. But the gang seemed to be in shock, they were mumbling and looking back and forth between each other,

"Well," she heard Sephiroth say, "If that was your gambit move then it was a disappointment, now it's my turn."

"Dude that's impossible he blocked it!" one of them shouted. Another shot. This time Phoenix noted Sephiroth move, the bullet blocked.

"My turn!" Sephiroth said and before any more of them could make another move he made his. She barely saw it he was so fast but she noticed of course that Sephiroth went for them but not how he got in as many strikes as he did. She also noticed that Sephiroth had not used his sword only the dagger that he had used before. She heard a number of cries and shouts from the men and had seen that the force of the blows and thrown them apart, they were still conscious but blood seeped out copiously from the wounds. She also heard more swearing than she wanted to hear, but wasn't surprised by it. Sephiroth was now stood with her again, he tossed the dagger to the leader. Somehow he had done all of it without the hood of his cloak coming down and revealing his face,

"I believe that is yours," he stated. None of them seemed able to get up,

"What did you do?" Phoenix asked Sephiroth looking at him wide eyed,

"I've severed the tendons in their legs and arms, they won't die but they will live to regret it. They won't be fully mobile ever again" he answered, "Now we'll be leaving." he told her. She backed off moving away from him,

"What is it?" he said, "What's wrong?" She just looked at him, stunned, she was grateful that he had saved her but at the same time she seemed to have seen a cold almost ruthless side to him.

"Leaving? Are we going? Back to the house?" she asked backing a little further off. Sephiroth just looked at her but suddenly paused and looked back over to the group of men.

"I wouldn't if I were you," he said to them, Phoenix looked over and noticed that one of them was reaching for his gun but Sephiroth swiftly walked over and kicked both guns away from them. "Pathetic boys like you shouldn't play with guns," he said then walked back over to Phoenix, "We're leaving and yes back to the house. Do you have a problem with that?" he glared at her. She looked over to the men who were hopelessly trying to sort themselves out. It wasn't that she had a problem with Sephiroth she had decided after all, (even after what Tifa had told her and his display of a few moments ago) or even going back to the mansion it was just that,

"No, no not really," she began, "It's just that…well it's the matter of transportation,"

"Transportation?" Sephiroth asked

"Look I'm sorry but if you carry me by my arm again it's going to drop off," she stated. Sephiroth smirked at her, Phoenix backed away, "No, no no no no no, there's people about you can't they'll see you…" she began to argue,

"They're not paying any more attention to us and its pretty dark I'm sure no one will notice unless you scream so you had better not," at that he grabbed her arm pulling her away to a spot that was a little more hidden,

"No no you can't my arm will drop off," she said in a loud whisper not daring to shout.

"Don't worry your arm won't come off," he told her, then suddenly he picked her up as though she was nothing and thrust her over his shoulder fireman's lift style as he rose up away from the ground. Phoenix held back a shout, she was ashamed and she blushed profusely red just thankful that he couldn't see her face. She wanted to kick, fight and scream but didn't want to risk falling, or being on the receiving end of his wrath for attracting attention, she supposed that this was very mildly better than being carried by her arm, it still ached from the trip here earlier on. She found herself gripping onto the back of his cloak and accidentally dislodged his hood setting free his long silver hair, unfortunately that meant that throughout the rather uncomfortable flight she also had the joy of eating his hair, but at least that kept her preoccupied from how cold she was and that she hated being carried like that.

Despite her preoccupation with his hair she was still none the less frozen when he landed outside his home. She was shivering so much, _he could at least have let me take my jacket with me?, _she thought. Sephiroth put her down then looked at her,

"So, now do you believe me?" he asked. Phoenix looked back but the main thought on her mind was, _do we have to have this conversation outside?_ she almost whimpered in her mind. "Fine then, lets go inside first," Sephiroth went in and Phoenix promptly followed. _Aaaaa blessed warmth_ she thought, _well sort of _. It wasn't particularly warm inside but it was definitely an improvement over outside, but still she wanted to curl up under a blanket and sleep more than anything else. She sat down on an armchair and curled up in a ball for warmth. Sephiroth walked over and stood looking down at her,

"So, do you believe me now?" he asked, she looked up at him. It was all so surreal, but there wasn't any other explanation. She sighed,

"Yes, yes I believe you, but it's still not right," Sephiroth seemed satisfied and turned to walk away talking off his cloak. "Sephiroth," Phoenix said, "Thanks…for saving me by the way," He walked away, without answering.

Phoenix felt lost, _what am I going to do now,_ _what could I do, _she wondered_._ Stuck on a strange planet with no way of getting home, she would never see anyone she knew ever again, and this was a strange world. She suddenly felt lonely, Sephiroth had told her to stay at the mansion with him to train _but why? Why did I need to train_. She doubted he had any loyalty or felt any obligation to help her. She found herself sat pondering but nothing came to her. She found herself wondering about Sephiroth and what Tifa had said about him. _Was he that terrible? _Sephiroth had left after he had asked her about whether she believed him and now she was alone.

Alone!

Profoundly alone! That was how she felt. She had been saved by Sephiroth but she still wanted to cry over what had happened, she could still do with having someone there to tell her it's all right now, it's ok and dang nabit someone to give her a hug and comfort her. But that wasn't going to happen.

Alone.

And it was alone that she fell asleep.

It was curled up on the armchair where Sephiroth found her after he had finished his training. It was late and he knew that if she slept like that she would wake up stiff and not be in very good shape to start training in the morning and so he came over and nudged her awake. Phoenix roused slowly then opened her eyes and saw Sephiroth standing in front of her, she looked up at him and after a few bleary blinks proceeded to die inwardly…Sephiroth was topless…OMG. O_o. His silver hair sparkling all the more because it was wet and clinging over his muscular body, he must have not long since gotten out of the shower. Phoenix's eyes must have been popping out of their sockets, she just stared. Sephiroth sighed and rolled his eyes,

"Phoenix if you continue to stare at me like that your eyes will pop out altogether," he stated, and that made her snap out of it, she managed to come round enough to almost drag her eyes away as her cheeks went scarlet, and her mouth felt dry as she hid her face under her hand. _Was there no end to his taunting,_ she thought, _he so did this on purpose._

"Sorry," she said, "But you just woke me up and caught me off guard…I mean of all the most horrible things to wake up to,"

"Oh really?" he responded, she was trying to squash down her response, control herself. He could see her taking a deep breath and calming down but Sephiroth found himself soooo wanting to make her lose control again. He found that he enjoyed toying with her, he had done with the clothes of his he had given her so use, when he had carried her and when he got her the new outfits. Sephiroth had for all intensent purposes took care of her when she was unconscious but had taken time to look into her mind quite thoroughly in order to find out more about her, (he hadn't really thought much about her privacy) to answer his questions over who she was. And he had learnt a lot about her in the process, her likes, dislikes, hobbies, relationships, (or lack thereof) and much more besides. He had picked up an awful lot of useless facts about every part of her life in his mental search for useful information but in the end none of it had been particularly useful and all that left him with was a whole lot of useless facts. Sephiroth felt like he could have known her all of her life from the moment her memories began. From the knowledge he had gained he knew that she had never had to deal with a man before and that coupled with her shy personality, (which she did quite well to hide at times) and lack of motivation meant he had plenty of teasing power. For now however, it was late, and if she was to start training tomorrow, she would have to sleep so he resisted his temptation,

"Go to bed!" he stated and walked off again. She opened her mouth to talk but Sephiroth stopped her, "You can ask questions in the morning," he said matter of factly. She figured that that was that and she decided to just go to bed. She was too tired and cold to argue and to be honest didn't wish to have the conversation with him topless and so she went up to her room, crawled into bed and went to sleep.

Hi hope the story is going well, sorry it took a while for a new chapter but I would apprieciate people letting me know what they think of it. Thanks for reading.


	7. Chapter 7 Training Begins

Sorry it's been so long but here's the next chaper.

Chapter 6 - Training Begins

Phoenix woke up in the morning after having a strange dream about a wraith trying to eat one of her old college tormentors whilst she was introducing her new boyfriend Sephiroth who actually had red hair. She woke up as her tormentor was saying that she couldn't ever get a boyfriend like hers who was also called Sephiroth but had Clouds spiky hair. She was saying Phoenix's name repetitively then said,

"Wake up Phoenix!" but now she had a mans voice and when Phoenix opened her eyes to look at her she saw Sephiroth standing beside the bed. After pulling a number of contorted confused faces Phoenix said,

"Sephiroth?" she enquired very groggily, "What time is it?"

"7 am, now get up and ready, we start your new training regime at 8!" At that he left the room. Phoenix hated mornings, she wasn't the type to lay in late but she liked to wake up naturally on her own. She attempted to go back to sleep, _I could say it was a accident_ she thought but that idea failed when she heard a mental warning from Sephiroth, she knew that he was 'watching' which was really creepy . It wasn't fair, he shouldn't be able to hear her thoughts, it was wrong they were her thoughts, thoughts were supposed to be private not on Sephiroth's mental radio. Phoenix dragged herself out of bed and got cleaned up, very paranoid about Sephiroth 'watching', then ready and proceeded to walk downstairs pretty much like a zombie. Sephiroth was in the living room waiting.

"Now get something to eat," he said. She wasn't really hungry, she didn't normally have breakfast.

"No it's alright I'm not hungry, I don't…" and she was cut short, it seemed that if Sephiroth didn't like or agree with what she was saying he never let her finish,

"I wasn't asking, I was telling, now get something to eat, you'll need the energy." he told her. She found herself just looking at him and in her still half asleep state she dared to argue,

"Oh and what if I don't are you going to force feed me?" Phoenix asked but soon regretted when he said,

"If I have too!" and she could see him doing it too, though she wasn't exactly sure how but she caved, she was too tired yet to actually put it to the test and went and looked through the cupboards. _And what exactly am I supposed to eat? _she wondered, there still wasn't anything in the cupboards nothing edible anyway.

"Sephiroth what exactly am I supposed to eat?" she asked. He was standing in the doorway watching in mild amusement whilst he leaned up against the doorpost. He stood up straight and came over,

"Here's where you get food," he said. He walked over to what looked like some kind of device in the wall, it kind of looked like it was maybe some kind of coffee dispenser only larger and without any nozzle. It had a panel on the wall beside it and an open sort of cube shaped hole in the wall. He said,

"Computer coffee, black, strong." and as she watched there was a small swirl of light and a strange quiet whirring sound then suddenly there was a cup of coffee in the hole in the wall. It had appeared cup, coffee, saucer and all out of thin air. Phoenix looked in amazement, mouth open, it was like something out of a sci-fi movie.

"It's an invention of Shinra's," Sephiroth told her and he took the cup of coffee leaving the saucer, which promptly disappeared into a whirl of light. "It can do food as well, whatever you can think of within reason, now eat, but don't ask for anything that had a brand name from your world, it won't know what it is unless I programme it." Phoenix looked at the machine dubiously as Sephiroth walked away with his cup of coffee. _Well it couldn't hurt to try right_ she thought_ just no brand names, hmmm no diet coke then, shame._

"Ermmmm, com-pu-ter o-range juice," she stated as clearly as possible, she sounded as if she was talking to someone foreign who might not understand her language and at that she paused, _weird that they actually spoke English here,_ she thought. She watched as a glass of orange juice appeared in the device and taking it took a sip. It tasted like orange juice. It was amazing _does this mean that there's no washing up. _She brightened at the thought and had the brief image of Sephiroth in an apron with washing up gloves on doing the washing up but quickly wiped it from her mind, she turned to Sephiroth,

"What do you call this language that we are speaking?" she asked. "I mean on my world…" that sounded wrong, "…it's called English but obviously here England doesn't exist so it can't be English can it?" Sephiroth looked up at her, it was rather a random question,

"It's the new language of the ancients," he told her.

"Hmmmm right ok," it was a weird answer, but it sounded like enquiring further might get her into a history lesson and so she looked back at the machine in the wall thinking about what to choose to eat. "Com-pu-ter Shred-dies with milk and su-gar," she stated in that same tone of voice as before,

"Request not understood," Phoenix jumped as a woman's voice came out of nowhere but realised that it must be the device, _amazing,_ and that obviously Shreddies was a brand name. She would have to think about this,

"Sephiroth, what breakfast cereals are there here?" she asked. Sephiroth sighed, _maybe she would be a little late starting her training _he thought. Sephiroth proceeded to name off a few and explain in terms she understood what they were, having seen into her mind he could tell her what cereals most resembled that of ones she knew, and she soon realised that they weren't that big on cereals here. Eventually she picked one after she saw a vision of irritation cross Sephiroth's face. Phoenix wasn't too keen on the resulting cereals but ate them…mostly…and put her not quite empty bowl back and watched avidly as it dematerialised. Sephiroth's response was instantaneous,

"Follow me," he said, "We'll get started on your training immediately," Phoenix was not looking forward to this at all but she followed albeit reluctantly, pretty much just humouring him at the moment. Sephiroth walked down to the room in the basement, (not that it looked anything like a basement if you factored in the gym, swimming pool and other rooms down there), where she had found him training the day before. She went in, the room was the size of a seriously large sports hall and had black shiny walls with lined grids along every surface, other than that the room was completely empty. Sephiroth walked to the middle of the room and Phoenix followed.

"Sephiroth before we start can I ask a few questions?" she asked, she wanted to know about what Tifa had said.

"No," he said simply, "You will have to wait until after training we're already late to start," She somehow felt like she had been told off but if he didn't want to talk then she couldn't exactly make him, so she would just have to wait, for now anyway. "Alright Phoenix we'll be starting simple building up your stamina, speed, balance and strength and I'll be teaching you the basics of martial arts and use of weapons," she stared at Sephiroth. _Start Simple, that doesn't sound simple._ _Why in the world did he want to teach me this stuff? And how was all that basic? _she wondered, but more came "We'll also start with the basics of magic and I'll be teaching you to fly," At this she seemed to pay more attention.

"Sorry did you just say magic? And Fly?" she asked amazed but sceptical.

"Yes but more about that later, I'll also teach you about mental abilities and anything else that comes up along the way!" Sephiroth stated, "So we'll begin with basic martial arts."

"But you said magic, are you serious, is that even real?" Phoenix asked thinking that after what she's seen recently magic seemed to be more reasonable than once it would have,

"Yes I said magic but you aren't ready for that yet," he responded, "Now…"

"Why not, that might actually be interesting, and flying? You mean like you did?" she interrupted, Sephiroth was not particularly amused with her but answered anyway,

"Yes fly but you'll have to be a lot stronger before we do that the way I did, now no more questions!" Phoenix seemed to feel that it would not be a good idea to continue the subject, but she was dying to know more. Truth be told Phoenix had always wanted to be good at martial arts too, she had tried karate when she was younger but found that she didn't have the patience and besides what could she really learn in one lesson a week and so she had given it up. She did however remember the basics so when Sephiroth told her to get in a fighting stance she got into the one that was the basic stance of karate. Sephiroth inspected her stance and made a few adjustments, _Ok I guess it's not karate I'm learning_ she thought when her stance no longer resembled what it did a few moments ago. Mostly she wanted to know more about magic, and flying, but she doubted he would do the training before he decided too,

"That will be your basic stance so make sure you remember it and don't let it slip," Sephiroth sounded like a very strict teacher and he was. Over the next three hours he showed her how to hit, kick, dodge, move, take a hit, fall and anything in between and every time her stance slipped she ended up on the floor. He moved from one thing to the next before she had any hope of getting right what she was doing. She had no idea what he was expecting her to be able to do, she could only assume that he was more or less doing an introduction and Sephiroth delighted in making her lose her balance the whole way through. She ached everywhere, she was sure that she must be bruised all over from taking hits and falls. She was tired and more than ready to call it quits, _why should she have to put up with this?_ It was then that she had her break for dinner finally, she wasn't hungry, she was too tired to be hungry but she got an hour, a whole blissful hour, to recover. But alas her break was over all to soon for her liking and she followed Sephiroth back to the training room with great trepidation. She was seriously lacking any kind of motivation to continue.

"Ok so this session is going to be a little different you may wish to lie down," Sephiroth told her, _lie down that was a bit weird _she thought but she did as she was told. He indicated an area of the floor furthest away from the door, which was situated half way down the length of the wall. She laid down. "Alright your training ends today when you reach the door," he stated, she found that odd, there was obviously going to be a catch and she was right, "Computer, 8 G's," Sephiroth smirked at her. Suddenly the pressure on her was immense, she was pinned down by the air itself as if it was a ton of water on top of her and even breathing was difficult, she couldn't move. She tried to talk but it was quite an effort to make her lungs heave the air out so she tried 'thinking' in his direction,

"_Sephiroth what have you done I can't move,"_ Phoenix said, Sephiroth, who of course was still standing as though it was nothing replied,

"I've increased the gravity in the room to 8 G's, your training is to get to the door. Eventually you will be able to do all your training in this gravity easily," _Easily,_ she thought stunned, she could not see that happening. She knew that RAF pilots were trained to withstand up to 10 G's but that was passing out point and he expected her to do a full work out and train in 8 G's, she couldn't believe it, her own ribs felt like they were made of lead,

"_I can't do that,"_ Phoenix thought to him

"You will, or you will be there for the rest of the day," he stated matter of factly and so he stood and waited for her to do the training but there was no chance. _Was lying down for the rest of the day really that bad?_ she thought to herself. It was difficult to breath but at least she could breath, but if she pushed herself then breathing would be a lot harder.

"_Sephiroth it's not possible, my body can't handle that kind of stress I'll have a heart attack,"_ she said to him,

"Phoenix," he answered, "Your body is capable of putting up with greater stress now because of the changes that you went through and I wouldn't be telling you to do it unless that were so, now do it!" But Phoenix still wasn't inclined to do so, _this is ridiculous, why should I have to do this training anyway?_ she wondered. She had no motivation to do as Sephiroth told her to, she could lie here for as long as necessary, especially when a possible heart attack was the alternative.

Sephiroth watched as she just laid there, he could tell from her mind that she had resigned herself to just staying there. He had expected it, from what he knew about her he knew that if she didn't want to do something she usually didn't have much motivation to do it unless it was necessary, but in the case of training he knew she had no motivation and in her mind no reason to do it. Sephiroth though, had his reasons for wanting her to be trained up, to be as strong and skilled as a SOLDIER 1st class and it wasn't just to defend herself against thugs, but he wasn't going to tell her his reasons. So that meant that he had to give her motivation that would work for her and for that he had several options, he just had to use what he knew about her against her, use what she wanted most, or didn't want at a particular moment, and he had just the thing that he knew that would motivate her, and he would enjoy the torment. He walked over to her and stood where her head was laid.

"Are you going to do the training? Or do I have to give you some motivation?" he asked, the look on his face almost dared her to say 'no' to training and that's exactly what she did, _he wasn't going to scare her this time _she thought.

"_No I'm not it's ridiculous,"_ Phoenix thought to him, but she didn't like the look on his face, he was definitely up to something.

"Then that means I will have to provide you with the motivation to DO the training then won't I," he stated. She wondered what he could possible offer her to make her want to do it, she couldn't go home and that was all she pretty much wanted, well…that and to not do training but obviously he wasn't going to offer that. "So here's the offer…" and he smirked at her as he said it, Sephiroth was anticipating her response to his 'offer'. "…either you find the strength to get to that door sometime soon or…" and he slowly leaned down so that he was, from her point of view, looking at her from upside down right over her face, he leaned down onto one knee and lent closer and closer till he was about one foot above her,

"_Sephiroth…what are you doing?" _she asked nervously,

"Do the training Phoenix," he said in a low, quiet bone chilling voice that was almost a growl, "…Or…I…will…kiss…you!"

Ba-dum,

Her heart almost pounded it's way out of her chest despite the gravity along with her eyes out of her head. Phoenix's face assumed the standard beetroot colour in record time and she took several moments to realise that she wasn't breathing.

"So what will it be hmmm," he asked in that same low voice, she just laid there in shock, she couldn't believe he had just said that. She knew that it was rather pathetic but she had never actually been kissed before, not by someone who wasn't family anyway, not like…that. And she had come to think that since it had been this long she might as well save it for someone special, corny…most definitely, she knew it but why not? And now Sephiroth was leaning over her threatening to kiss her if she didn't try to move in a ridiculous 8 G's. This was not how she had imagined it to go, she had imagined something romantic with someone she had grown to care deeply about, maybe a warm night with stars, or a sunset, just something nice not a psycho who was threatening her. Though if nothing else her heart was pounding.

"Is that your answer then?" he asked, Sephiroth slowly started to lean down towards her, his face slowly getting closer, _panic panic panic_! Mental scream_,_ _No, no, no, no, no, no,_

"No, no, no ok, ok, ok I'll do it_," _she shouted to Sephiroth out loud and mentally in a panicked mental frenzy, she felt tired from just from talking out loud. Sephiroth smirked, she knew that she had given him exactly what he wanted as he got up and walked back over to where he had been standing. She laid there for a while forcing herself to calm down _it was ok he hadn't done anything_ she thought.

"Are you going to do it or do I have to come back over there?" Sephiroth asked, _Nooooo _panic.

"_Nooo I'm doing it just gimmi a minute," _she thought to him getting worked up again. Ok so she had to do something. She tried to lift her arm but it didn't want to move, _this is going to be so hard_ she thought and she was definitely right. She started out by taking a small eternity to turn over then slowly but surely she dragged herself inch by inch towards the door, she felt so pathetic and no doubt looked it but her arms didn't want to move, her legs didn't want to move and nor did any other body part and of course the more she moved the more she needed to breathe from the exertion and the harder that was too. Her lungs and heart felt like they were at their limit, the whole thing was so strenuous but she was taking the easiest route along the floor, she doubted she could stand up no matter how hard she tried, but that wasn't enough for Sephiroth, it had taken Phoenix about ½ an hour to get half way when he said,

"That's enough of that, the only way you will continue is if you actually start trying to get up." _Get up? No! he can't be serious, _she thought, _that would be impossible._ she looked up to where he was standing and she could see that he was deadly serious, _would he really kiss me as punishment?_ she couldn't stop the brief image crossing her mind as she though of him actually doing it. A shiver ran through her spine and if her face wasn't already red from the effort of training it would have been then, she could not let that happen. She wondered again if he would actually do it but although she didn't really know Sephiroth that well she thought she knew him well enoughto assume he would not have a problem doing it, but then she remembered something he had said 'I haven't had time for any relationships'. He had said it when she had first asked him for some cloths other than his, so that meant that he hadn't been with a woman either, a flicker of hope. _would he really just do it?_ she thought. She looked up and she could see Sephiroth rolling his eyes, he could obviously 'hear' her train of thought. But all this brought her to the conclusion that maybe he wouldn't take out his punishment on her.

"Phoenix," Sephiroth said in as close to a sickly sweet voice as his voice could allow, "You'll find that that's not quite what I told you. I told you that I hadn't been in a relationship before, not that I had never been with a woman before, but then that wouldn't be any of your business now would it?" _crud_ she thought _hope squashed_. She thought that she had had something going there but no. She did however learn something about Sephiroth, _he was just another typical perverted man!_ She supposed that if he was the best of the best a lot of women who had no better ethics would have flocked to him and Sephiroth being a man would most likely have been quite happy to take his jollies out. She was happily in that train of thought when she felt the warning bells ringing in her head, Sephiroth was looking down on her again and she could swear that the gravity just got ten times heavier just from his eyes pinning you down.

"SO, you think I'm your average typical perverted man do you!" Sephiroth's voice got slow and menacing, it was icy cold, "Well then that should mean that I won't have any problems going through with my THREAT now should it!" Phoenix found herself swallowing,

"_No th…that's not what I meant, I just…I just…" _

"You just WHAT? Phoenix,"

"_I'm sure that you wouldn't, you've got too much honour I'm sure, unlike me,"_

"Oh so you think I wouldn't go through with my threat,"

"_No, yes I mean yes you would, you would, you just wouldn't do anything too much because of your honour right…right,"_

"Right," Sephiroth finished, "now get on with it." _This was horrible_ she thought, she was worked up again, she was certain that he did it on purpose. Sephiroth continued to glare down at her,

"_Alright already I'm doing it just stop glaring at me it adds an extra 10 G's," _she pleaded. Sephiroth looked quite pleased with himself and looked away but he didn't move away from her this time. After taking a minute she got on with her task of getting to the door, this time making more of an attempt to get up. Her Head alone felt like a bowling ball and each of her limbs like they were laden with lead but she proceeded under Sephiroth's threat.

Eventually she got there, and since she hadn't been able to drag herself it had gotten a lot harder on the second half. Sephiroth had told her that she would only be able to make process if she was on no less that hands and knees, so she had had to crawl but the shear effort of getting to her knees in 8 G's made the rest of the way to the door seem like 100 miles away. Her whole body was aching no end when she got out the door, her lungs were burning along with her heart and throat, and her knees, hands and elbows all felt like they were in pieces and her head swam from the exertion. The relief she felt going back into normal gravity was immense and she collapsed on the spot, in the hallway, with no intentions of moving any further for at least half an hour. Sephiroth came out, the door closing behind him,

"When your ready come find me in the living room" he said. _What, no well done? _She thought

"Oh and well done," he said. If her head hadn't already been on the floor she would have just hit her head off of it on purpose. _He so only said that because he heard me_ she thought. That whole experience had been horrific but she figured that wouldn't be the only time she had to do it. She was right of course she just didn't know it yet. She must have spent another hour getting to the door and now she laid on the floor outside for at least half an hour before getting up and going to find Sephiroth for whatever other torture he was going to put her through.


	8. Chapter 8 A Little Conversation

Ditto on disclaimers.

Chapter 8 - A Little Conversation

Phoenix dragged herself up to the living room and all but collapsed onto an armchair still exhausted. Sephiroth was sat on the sofa watching what looked like a news broadcast but he turned it off when she came up, he looked at her.

"Phoenix I have something for you," he said, he indicated towards a box on the floor. "Come here," he told her bluntly. She didn't like the sound of that but warily she went over, but not too close. He opened the box, "Come closer," he urged,

"Why?" she asked, "What are you going to do?" Needless to say she didn't move closer but all of a sudden and faster than she was able to react Sephiroth reached over to her and grabbed her wrist pulling her closer, _panic, what was he doing? _"Sephiroth! What are you doing?" she asked frantically, but equally as quickly he put something on her wrist and let go. Phoenix's wrist, followed quickly by her arm and half her upper body fell, whatever he just strapped to her arm was seriously heavy and whilst she was distracted with trying to stop her arm crashing to the floor he put 'straps' on her other arm, both ankles, her waist and as she struggled against gravity he put heavy metal shoulder guards on. Phoenix could no longer fight said gravity and went to meet the floor from the weight.

"Sephiroth what are you doing?" she repeated the question. Her body felt like lead, she could barely move.

"Those are training weights, you will be wearing them from now on." he told her. "You will only be able to take off the shoulder guards and only when you sleep." Sephiroth informed her, he got up taking the box with him to no doubt put it away. She looked at the weights on her wrists, they were so heavy she struggled to keep her arms off the floor but they were only thin bands of metal It could be a bracelet for all anyone knew, it was an inch and a half wide and only a few millimetres thick, it was silver coloured and it had an appealing intricate design engraved on it. She didn't exactly want to leave it on though, she couldn't see where he had put it on her wrist and clipped it together, it was completely seamless and as well as that it was completely skin tight. It didn't move around her arm at all, she figured that it must be some metal that didn't exist on Earth and all but the shoulder guards were designed the same way. Sephiroth came back in and she figured she would ask him about it then try to ask some of the other questions she was dying to ask.

"Sephiroth what's with these," she asked indicating the weights.

"It's simple really," he answered, "They were specially made to fit exactly. They are made from a special metal that has been enhanced, it can bond on a molecular level to become seamless and can bond to your skin so that it won't move around during training. You can't get them off unless you know how and I've no intention of instructing you on that detail." he explained and continued to say, "Also you can get them in the same material but in different densities and so you can have different weights, they come in the same size but can weigh up to 200kg give or take and I have a range of them just for you." _Oh how wonderful_ she thought sarcastically. This was her chance though to try and ask a few questions,

"…" Phoenix had just opened her mouth to speak,

"Get something to eat!" Sephiroth interrupted before she began, "You'll need your energy to keep up with the pace of training I'll be giving you. THEN, when your done eating I'll answer a few of your questions…maybe," _Brilliant, yes_ she thought _some answers but…Nooooooo_ that means she had to get up and go to the food dispenser. _Noooooooo, soooooo mean_ she thought and so it took her quite a while to get food, (which took ages to decide when she could have pretty much anything she wanted) then carry it to the table and eat before putting the leftovers back and getting a drink to take into the living room with her, but eventually she did all that and got sat down on the armchair, exhausted. She could only just say walk with all the weights on, and she could only just say lift her arms up to carry something, the weights were pretty precisely on the edge of what she could cope with and still do things. Basic things.

"Alright you can ask your questions but be aware that I may not answer all of them." Sephiroth told her. _Yes finally, _she thought _But which questions first?_ she wondered, the Sephiroth ones? The ones about her? The ones about how things are possible ect,

"What Tifa said," she started expecting that she would get a short sharp 'next question', "Is it true?" And she was right, Sephiroth glowered at her, _ok next question_ she thought, but Sephiroth gave her a simple

"Yes" in answer, _great_ she thought,

"So what? You tried to destroy the planet?" she asked.

"Not quite but it could have happened given different circumstances," he continued,

"What does that mean? If it happened it was either you or it wasn't," Phoenix was a little confused,

"I was responsible though I didn't do it, next question!" he said matter of factly.

"Ok, so why do you want to train me then?" she asked, Sephiroth continued to glare but this time he actually answered more fully,

"Hojo, as you already know, has severely manipulated your genes hence the physical changes you went through. Your body is now capable with proper intense training to be at the level of a SOLDIER 1st class. At the moment your body is in prime physical condition but needs the training to be fully at its best." Sephiroth informed her. _Prime physical condition?_ she thought, that wasn't exactly a phrase she would ever have used on herself, and it sounded a little…dubious.

"But…that doesn't really explain why I need to be trained up, what I need to train for," she said,

"You will need to know how to control the new abilities you have, in theory Hojo shouldn't have been able to manipulate your DNA as much as he did nor should your body have been able to absorb even a small amount of the mako that it did, your far too old," _Gee thanks,_ she thought, "Normally it could only be done in the foetal stage, but he did and it did. You will need the training because if you don't learn to control your new abilities then you will be a danger to anyone around you it's as simple as that." Sephiroth paused for a while and gathered that she still wanted more of an answer, "You noticed no doubt that this isn't an easy world to live in, your encounter with the wraith was pitiful when we first met, you will need to be able to deal with creatures such as those and others, as well as people, those like you encountered before and others who actually have skills and strength. That is what you need your abilities for," finished telling her, _so that was why he was training you,_ she pondered,

"But what abilities?" she asked, "I don't have any abilities!"

"You have," Sephiroth informed her, "They just haven't completely manifested yet. You have, with a little training, great strength, speed, balance and stamina, you'll also have from Hojo's mako infusions magical capabilities, the ability to use magic and have it be a part of you, to what degree I'm not sure but it will be powerful, much more so than others with magic. As well as that, mental abilities that you can master, you can already speak with me mentally, well you can build on that but all of these will manifest on their own, but if you don't train them, when they do manifest they will be uncontrollable." Phoenix was listening avidly but she couldn't believe that she could be all that,

"Ermmm, you said when we started training that you could teach me to fly?" this was one thing that defiantly had her doubtful but highly interested. "Do you mean like you do?" she asked

"No, not like I do," he replied, "You will have to learn to fly in the more traditional sense, with wings."

"Wings? But people don't have wings…at least not where I come from. You can't be serious…" she didn't believe him in the least, she pretty much assumed at this point he was having her on. She had stopped mid sentence as Sephiroth had stood up. He took hold of her arm and dragged her outside. He let go of her and walked a few steps away before turning around leaving her to struggle with remaining upright from her weights. She was about to complain about his mishandling of her but stopped dead with her mouth wide open when Sephiroth brought out of his back two large perfectly black wings.

Her mind was blank, she was stunned. It took several moments to remember to shut her mouth. She thought that she was seeing things but there they were as clear as day. Unbelievable, _was this normal here?_

"You, Phoenix will be learning to fly with wings," Sephiroth stated bringing her back to reality.

"But…but…but I don't have wings!" she said still in a measure of shock, Sephiroth was smirking at her. The look on her face was like that of a bemused kitten. Just as he had expected, she was completely stunned.

"Actually you do, and tomorrows task is to get them out and for you to start exercising them," Sephiroth informed her. _You did?, _he had said _I have wings! No he can't be right surely_ she thought, but she didn't think Sephiroth was into lying. _But that means that I have wings!_ she was shocked and she still didn't quite believe it but why would he lie, she supposed he could just be wrong and not know it. _But he has wings,_

"Is that normal?" she asked finally finding her speech,

"No," Sephiroth replied, "It isn't. I'm like this because I am different from everyone else on this planet…" Sephiroth would have said that he was the son of Jenova but figured that would mean explaining everything about Jenova. "…and you are too. You are like me!"

"Like you? Did that scientist do it?" she asked,

"Yes, he did," he answered. Again Sephiroth skipped a bit, Sephiroth knew that Hojo couldn't have done all the changes he had seen in Phoenix in one sitting, he himself had been influenced in the womb from just after conception, all experiments on older humans to that extent had failed to get results but Phoenix was a success. Of course Shinra could have improved their science since all those years back but if they had done that there would be more like himself around and there simply wasn't. People like that tended to be…unstable. For a moment Sephiroth wondered if he himself fitted into that category but dismissed it, he just had strong opinions…and Jenova whispering in his mind. Hojo had obviously withheld some information about Phoenix. There was more about her than met the eye and Sephiroth figured he had a good idea what, he would just need to look into it further. She was moving closer, he sighed as she reached out a hand to touch and he pondered for a moment whether to let her or not. Sephiroth decided that one touch couldn't hurt, he needed her to believe him if she was to put more into her training and if that was what helped then so be it. Phoenix reached tentatively forward to touch his wings, moving carefully wary of him snapping at her, but he didn't. Her hand caressed against his wing, she had never felt anything so soft before and they were warm to the touch. They were also completely black, as black as the darkest night with shadows that were almost so dark you could almost fall into them. She looked up at Sephiroth, he was looking back,

"So, do you believe they are real now?" he asked, she quickly pulled her hand away and blushed. She turned away as so that he couldn't see, she felt almost as if she had done something she shouldn't.

"Yes I do," she answered back heading slowly back inside. She could still feel the memory of the touch on her hand. Sephiroth followed her back inside, wings away and waited for any more questions she might have. She sat down and stayed quiet for a few minutes before asking,

"So, your training me, but what am I supposed to do here? I'm lost in a strange world where apparently I'm unlike anyone else on the planet barring you!" she kind of felt alone again, she wasn't exactly sure she could count on Sephiroth to talk to when she needed to talk. "What am I going to do? I don't know anyone here and the only people I've met so far want to experiment, kill, or rape me." she continued.

"You'll be fine," Sephiroth said matter of factly, "Why would you need to know other people?" she just looked at him,

"Oh I don't know, friends? Do you know what they are? People you have confidence in, go out with, talk to about things that matter and things that don't," Phoenix said sarcastically. Sephiroth was glaring at her, it seemed he didn't appreciate her sarcasm.

"Friends?" he growled, "Friends betray you," the statement shocked her, his voice was cold and hard, she had somehow touched on a 'touchy' subject. _Had Sephiroth been betrayed? _she wondered, "Besides what exactly did you have in mind, shopping? A night out on the town perhaps," now he was being sarcastic. "Or perhaps you wish to discuss boys or make-up or the latest trends, is that it?" She found herself rather irritated, he was mocking her, she wasn't likely to do any of those things but that didn't mean that she didn't need friends.

"Sephiroth that's not fair, are you saying I shouldn't get to know anyone but you!" she said back sarcastically. Sephiroth just glared at her,

"You'll be staying here!" he stated indicating the house, "You won't have time for recreation with friends," and he sneered the word, "And if you need anything I will provide it!" Sephiroth took that moment to get up and walk away, obviously question time was over, but she wasn't quite finished, she didn't get up but she turned to look at him as he left,

"Oh really? I mean are you my captor, am I a prisoner here? And seriously what's all this, 'you'll provide for me' all about, what are you my husband?" she stated. Sephiroth paused just at the doorway and took and obvious deep breath then slowly looked over his shoulder, he seemed to have relaxed a bit and now he was smirking at her again,

"I could be," he said in a devilish voice, his eyes drilling into her "If you want," and he walked away. If Phoenix had been standing she would have hit the floor, but thankfully she was sitting down. That didn't stop her from however turning crimson red in the face, her anger instantly giving way to embarrassment. _He didn't mean that_ she thought, _he just did that on purpose, _she was sure he had, _as if he would honestly suggest marriage._ Phoenix closed her eyes and tried to calm down only to be faced with an image of him…her…a heart shaped garland and a wedding dress, _aaaaahh _she opened her eyes again and just stared at the wall in front of decided, he enjoyed toying with her and getting her worked up, and it worked, he was very good at it she pouted

Phoenix took a few deep slow breaths to calm herself, then started to try and figure a few things out, it was either that or the…other image. So, she was a prisoner of sorts, she wasn't sure what he would do if she actually tried to leave but she figured he wouldn't let her anyway, and besides that where would she actually go? Her last venture out didn't go too well, between crazy gun wielding vampire men and gang rapists. So that meant that for now all she could do was stay where she was and do the nightmare training under threat of kissing, _that sounded pathetic_. She was actually pretty much ok being on her own, she was a loner for the most part, it was just the way he **expected **her to just stay there talk to no-one. Phoenix had had one really good friend in her old life, the friend of a lifetime and she really missed talking to her, about anything and nothing just knowing that there was someone who she could talk to any time of day about anything and what did she have here? Did he expect her to just stay here for the rest of her life as pretty much a mute? Did he expect her to have a life at all that wasn't training? She had no-one to talk to, and right now she just wanted some advice. She wanted to talk to her friend and now she wasn't there. She worried about her friends and family, what they must have thought had had happened to her, to them she was missing without a trace. She missed them and she knew that they were probably very worried about her too. Her eyes were tingling as warm liquid collected in the corners then quietly escaped as a few tears that ran down her cheeks. She started blinking trying to stop them but a few more inevitably escaped before she brought them under control. She was upset because she was worried for them, if she could never go home they would live their entire lives not knowing what had happened and she could imagine how she would feel if that had happened to someone she knew.

Phoenix took a few more deep breaths and after desperately wishing that she could let them know she was ok, sort of, she pulled herself under control. She pulled her arm up and carefully wiped away the tell tale signs of her tears. Sephiroth was the only one she would be able to talk to now like it or not. She felt for him in her mind finding his presence almost immediately, _could you even talk to him? _she wondered. She felt Sephiroth acknowledge her mental presence, she knew he was aware that she had checked on him. _Would he just taunt me?_ she sighed. She gathered that Sephiroth didn't want friends, something had happened, she didn't know what and she doubted that Sephiroth would tell her what but something had happened which was why he had snapped about 'friends'. _But why in the world would he want to talk to me about my problems_ she thought to herself, realizing that he had said that he could hear everything she thought. She sighed again, it was Sephiroth or nothing.

"_Sephiroth, what's my purpose here?" _she asked him mentally hoping that maybe he would answer and not just mock her. Phoenix knew that she couldn't literally spend the rest of her life training for nothing. _"I don't fill any gap here in this world, no reason to be alive. I know that I didn't exactly have much of a life back home but at least I knew where I stood. Here, in this world, I'm just a freak who needs to train in order to not hurt anyone but is going to live out the rest of their life in a mansion with no reason in life." _she felt the need to explain something just to try and get an answer. For a few moments there was silence,

"_Phoenix,"_ she heard him respond, _"This is your home now._" he said placating,_ "Not everyone finds their purpose straight away, most people stumble around looking, taking years to find one, only to find out it's not the right one and have to go looking again. You've only been here for a couple of days and before you can go looking you need to master your training, figure out for yourself what you are and figure out a new world that you don't yet understand. You've got a lot to learn, normally children grow up in a world they are going to live in, they have all their childhood to take inspiration and decide what they want and what they like, but you need to learn to live in a new world from scratch which could take years, until you know more stay here and I'll teach you about this world so that you can decide what you want,"_ he explained, not that he wanted her to actually do anything other than what he intended, but he thought it would make her feel better.

Phoenix hadn't expected him to answer and she certainty hadn't expected anything other than 'make do' so when Sephiroth gave her a rational answer she could actually consider she felt lighter hearted. Maybe she could just give it time, at least for a little while.

"_Ok, I'll give it a try,_"she mentally told him. He had been rational and what he had said made sense, that much at least helped. Sephiroth had given her a little will power to go on, _not that I have a choice, _she thoughtbut it made it a little easier, at least for now. Plus he had talked to her when she had needed help and advice and that was worth a great deal. Phoenix decided however she would have to find something to occupy herself with or she'd so stir crazy, though that was easier said than done when she could hardly move. She would have loved to go to the library and poke around in there but despite the uplifting speech she still couldn't face walking around. She ended up sitting there for a while before boredom forced her to drag herself to the library when Sephiroth failed to show back up. Her motivation for something to do however faded again as she remembered how difficult moving was, every movement was weighing her down, her whole body felt like it was made of lead, she was slow and clumsy and her body groaned at the effort it took just to walk across the room to the door. She got about ten steps out of the room and she resigned herself to going back to try, and fail, to find the TV remote. In other words, since there was no manual way of putting the TV on, she ended up doing nothing, fully exhausted by the effort, and then after all that effort, Sephiroth walked in,

"Do you intend to just sit there all evening?" he asked.

…

A moments silence passed with Phoenix just staring, being very wary of his eyes.

"Excuse me?" she said bluntly, Sephiroth sighed obviously not too happy about having to repeat himself,

"I said are you simply going to sit there like a couch potato all evening?" annoyance leaped up inside of her,

"What…just…sit…oooooohh, you know that's easy for you to say but I can hardly move with these blinking weights on," she said frustrated, Sephiroth smirked. _What was he smirking at?_ she wondered suddenly nervous,

"Well," he said, "You could always go to the library, or perhaps if that is too difficult a task you could even watch something on the TV," _he knew! That MAN knew everything I did_ she thought. Her whole body simmered with irritation, she just wanted to scream but instead she just took a deep breath bottled it up and forced herself calm,

"Yes, I could have," she said in a calm level tone of voice, "only having just received the wonderful gift of these weights it would be very difficult for me to walk round the library and I am not aware of the location of the TV remote control." she spoke in a very proper tone of voice, trying not to appear as irritated as she felt, and she was quite happy with the result. Sephiroth smirked again, that oh so irritating smirk,

"Computer TV on," he said, and the TV promptly turned on, "Put something on regarding world knowledge,"

"Please specify," the computer stated,

"Random," Sephiroth answered, the TV changed channel, it looked like a tourism programme.

…

Another moments silence followed by she took another deep breath and keeping calm.

"That would not have been an option I would have considered, WE never had TV's that responded to voice command" she stated, calmly, in monotone, except for the WE. "I think I'm just going to go to bed," she stated. It was still rather early but she didn't feel like watching TV now. "Goodnight Sephiroth," she said as she slowly got up.

"Are you sure you can walk upstairs to bed,?" Sephiroth asked, "Or would you like me to carry you up?" Phoenix paused, she was so tempted to just say yes and see what he did but she guessed that he would do it and embarrass her no end, "Perhaps the weights make you a little helpless, hmmm," _Hmmm? _She wondered, she wasn't sure she would like the next bit, Sephiroth came closer to her, "Perhaps," he said, his voice quiet, almost seductive and he came a couple of steps closer until he was able to lean close to her ear, "Perhaps you need someone to take care of you…if you can't do it yourself then **I'll **take good care of you Phoenix." She felt a shiver run down her spine just as the heat flushed up her face, _control yourself_ she thought, _just walk away and don't take the bait, _and taking a deep breath dragged herself out of the room without looking back at Sephiroth though she knew he had gotten to her. She wanted to scream again, scream at the top of her voice but she was going to control herself at least until she got to her room. And so she agonisingly dragged herself up the stairs one foot after the other and then along the landing to her bedroom and by the time she had done that she was too exhausted to scream anymore, she was well and truly ready for bed. The prospect of getting changed tormenting her for half an hour before she had the will to do it but finally everything was done and she eventually collapsed on the bed and went to sleep trying her darnedest not to think of marriage or being 'taken good care of'. Sleep, blissful, peaceful sleep, where she could dream of waking up in her usual bed, in her world and just have work to worry about.


	9. Chapter 9 Wings

Sorry it took so long for another chapter and bear in mind all the disclaimer stuff.

Chapter 9 - Wings

"Phoenix," a soft, low, almost seductive voice called her out of her strange dreams, and when she opened her eyes she was met by emeralds that shimmered, lit by a warm glow that shone through a silver waterfall. "Phoenix," she heard again as her eyes focused in on the emeralds slowly realising that they was a pair of intensely blazing eyes that burned into her as she looked up. "It's time to get up," and slowly she realised…Sephiroth. He was leaning over her from above, she remembered that she had simply flopped on the bed sideways after getting changed as getting into bed after that effort would have been too much, Phoenix had just pulled the blanket down over her and left her legs hanging over the edge of the bed. She battled with the furiously rising redness without any success, and suffering from a mix of early morning weakness and a body that was not willing to move from the training yesterday found herself unable to jump up as she wished. Sephiroth smirked, _oh no_ she thought, something bad always happened when he smirked.

"Phoenix, you look a little red, your not coming down with a fever are you," he asked innocently, she didn't believe that for a second_, _but then he pulled back a little and placed his hand over her forehead, and that was it. she closed her eyes just so she couldn't see the smug look on his face that she knew he must have after once again ensuring her near miraculous transformation from skin coloured to red, and still she couldn't move. "Hmmm, no, I think your ok," he said, _as if he didn't already know that_. Sephiroth stood up allowing his silvery hair to trail over her as he did so and pulling his hand away, "Now get up and ready and be at the training room for 9," at that he left. Phoenix figured that if she kept waking up like this then she would not live very long.

It took far too long to get up, Sephiroth had given her an extra hour to get ready this morning and she needed it. her legs were the worst, having fell asleep like she did with them hanging over the side of the bed with weights on they hardly moved without severe pain in her knees. The rest of her body ached from the training yesterday but her bad sleeping posture had done her the most damage. she got ready and went to go downstairs hanging on rather tightly to the banister. she felt like she had done a whole training session already, she made her way through to the kitchen and ate breakfast but failed the test of motivation to put the bowl back and get to the training room. Nine o'clock ticked by and Sephiroth came to find her.

"I told you to come down to the training room," he stated. Phoenix's head was on the table, she looked up…barely.

"I can't move," she moaned, "My whole body is screaming at me…" but Sephiroth wasn't hearing any of it. Mid sentence he came over and pulling her arm he dragged her to the training room. Phoenix barely even stayed standing the whole way, in fact, the not falling over part had been so distracting that she didn't even get chance to complain, especially getting down the stairs to the basement.

"Sephiroth I can't do this I can hardly stand up," she whinged.

"Unless you keep trying you will never get better," he said coldly, "Now this morning we will continue with self defence," he told her and that's what he did. He pushed her, and pushed, and pushed, she honestly had no idea how she coped but by the end of the morning she really couldn't even be bothered to lift an arm. She just propped herself up against a wall.

"Good work Phoenix, you've done well this morning," he told her, truthfully he hadn't expected her to keep going all morning as she had, she hadn't exactly done well but at least she had done the training. Sephiroth knew that he would have to push her the next few days, she would have to 'work through the pain' so to speak and so he opted to hold off on bringing out her wings until her body had begun to adapt to the training regime. He knew that the way she was now her body, like his own, had amazing abilities to cope with stress and that given time would quickly learn to cope with the level of training he wished her to have, but seeing as she had never done any training before he would have to push her and that was what he did. He decided to give her a little break from his taunting and simply push her in training, to the limit she could endure. Sephiroth did just that for about two weeks straight and for that two weeks it was routine, wake up, get ready, eat, train, eat, train, eat, sleep. Phoenix's body for the first week felt like it was going to break and Sephiroth had to give her a number of threats to keep her going and all she really did afterwards was sleep but the second week she slowly started to make progress, fast progress. It began to get easier, the weights didn't seem to trouble her as much, she still felt them but they were negligible and her body no longer ached as much from the training. She found it quite remarkable that by the end of the second week she had made so much progress. She knew logically that she was still doing the same amount of training but that it was a whole lot easier…well, sort of. The more progress she made the harder Sephiroth pushed her so the training was just as hard and though she found the training exceptionally hard it was easier to cope with afterwards and that made her feel better about it. _Now if only Sephiroth would stop picking on me_ she thought. Sephiroth had stopped tormenting her emotionally but that changed in the second week when a few moments came up though thankfully nothing too bad, nothing she couldn't cope with.

Sephiroth was touching her. Phoenix was mortified. His hand slowly caressed from her shoulder down her back sending shivers down her spine, her face of course was scarlet, _just get it over with_ she thought. He was standing behind her. She was outside and she was on her knees bracing against the ground, she was wearing one of Sephiroth's old T-shirts which he had all but ripped off her leaving her to hold the front so it didn't drop off.

"This will probably hurt quite a lot," Sephiroth said, "Are you ready?" he asked,

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied. she was nervous yet excited at the same time, Sephiroth told her that it was going to hurt and she wasn't looking forward to the pain but at the same time it would be quite exciting. Phoenix was braced as she felt both of his hands press on her back, she felt a tingling sensation as he released a short sharp wave of energy into her back, then exciting flew out the window and pain walked in. Pain, profound pain, nothing of the last two weeks compared to what she had just felt. Today was the day Sephiroth was to bring her wings out, and she felt them rip their way though her muscles tearing their way out, she screamed uncontrollably. It only lasted a moment but it felt like a small eternity and she felt sick to her stomach, but when she got over it, there they were. Phoenix still gasped for breath recovering from the pain, her back felt like barbed wire had been embedded into it and when she tried to move it dug in in all directions, but she looked round none the less to look at the wings that now adorned her back. They were black, but unlike Sephiroth's whose were blacker than the darkest night hers appeared were a few shades lighter,

"That hurt," she said, "They look kind of dusty,"

"Well it's going to hurt a lot more as I stretch them," he told her, "And they aren't dusty," he said, thinking that that had been a ridiculous thing to say.

"I didn't mean they are dusty just that they aren't black like yours…" she explained, "Yours are for example as black as the darkest night, whereas mine look black but kind of dusty, will they stay like that?" Phoenix asked,

"That all sounds rather poetic don't you think and yes they will stay that colour," the look on her face was slightly disappointed, Sephiroth wasn't in the mood for her to be moping, "Well look at it this way Phoenix, if my wings are the colour of the darkest night then think of yours as the colour of a moonlit night," she looked up at him. The statement had caught her off guard, it was sort of reassuring but she couldn't imagine Sephiroth as being poetic yet here he was talking about wings the colour of a moonlit night trying to make her feel better about them. She felt a strange squirmy feeling ripple through her chest followed by the urge to smile but just as the edge of her lip began to curl she severely stamped down the feeling denying it had ever happened. She also tried, fruitlessly, to not go red once again, she turned away. Sephiroth of course hadn't missed her reaction, it had been a while since he had tormented her but right now he had to spent the next couple of hours stretching her wings, and it was going to be painful. And that's exactly what it was, every movement like pulling barbed wire around inside her back, for four whole long agonising hours before he put her wings back inside her back. The pain from the week before seemed a distant memory compared to now as she made her way back inside and she found every position under the sun was a bad one, sitting, standing, and lying on her bed was out of the question. That night was a long one as she carefully moved from one position to another and she mused to herself that Sephiroth was going to increase her training and make it more varied. Over the last couple of weeks she had gotten used to getting up early, it was pretty much like getting up for work but after her bad nights sleep it was Sephiroth who had to wake her up and that was never a good thing.

Phoenix was lying on her stomach, that being the only way she could cope with her back, she woke up to Sephiroth whispering in her ear,

"Phoenix, time to get up," he whispered. she woke up quite quickly at the sound of his voice, _oh no_ she thought, she look a deep calming breath in advance, no matter what she would remain calm. Sephiroth of course had no intention of letting her remain so,

"Good morning Sephiroth, I am getting up just give me a minute my back is killing me," Phoenix said as plainly as possible,

"Oh?" she could practically hear him raising his eyebrows, "Your back hurts, that's too bad," she felt his fingertips come to a rest on her shoulder, _keep calm_ she thought. she felt him move them slowly across her back gently caressing his fingers over where her wings had come out, she couldn't help but tense up, which hurt rather significantly, _great, an excuse_ she thought,

"Sephiroth do you mind not doing that, that kinda hurts…a lot," she said calmly, Sephiroth noted that she was coping well this morning, (probably the pain was a little sobering) and figured he would have to up his game just slightly.

"Oh I'm sorry," he said quietly, he carefully began to walk his fingers up towards the nape of her neck, her heart rate was beginning to sky rocket, he was trying to get to her and there was nothing she could do about it, except get up and so she thought that the sooner the better.

"Alright…I'm getting up," she carefully made to move but Sephiroth stopped her.

"No Phoenix," he said his hand holding her shoulder.

"What? What do you mean 'no' I thought…" but the sentence went unfinished in horror as Sephiroth smoothly stood up and moved to saddled over her legs, all Phoenix's decorum died, every ounce of control she had disappeared completely. Red flushed over her face and she was more than aware of the heat emanating from her cheeks, "Sephiroth what are you doing?" she asked almost frantic.

"Well, your wings will need stretching today," he told her, "So since moving is so painful for you then I will do it here, besides your back will only hurt more again afterwards." she was desperately trying to think of a valid argument but couldn't think of anything,

"But…erm…shouldn't we…" again she was cut short as Sephiroth's hands slid up her back underneath her top, pulling it up as he did so revealing her back, her attempts at keeping it down fruitless.

"Now brace yourself," he warned, he placed both of his hand gently on her upper back and as he had done yesterday applied pressure and energy. Phoenix's body shuddered in pain as her wings once again burst out her back, she muffled a cry of pain in the pillow and waited for it to pass. Despite the pain however she was actually more aware of Sephiroth straddling over her, it was ridiculously embarrassing and she knew that he was doing it like this on purpose. Eventually the pain passed and she decided to ask,

"Sephiroth, why do you enjoy torturing me?" she asked plaintively. "And don't say you don't because your always doing it,"

"Fine then, I won't deny it," he answered, she felt him lean down over her untill he could whisper in her ear, "I do it simply because I enjoy it," He was so close she could feel his breath across her ear but thankfully he wasn't quite touching her, she knew however that once again he was doing it on purpose. She was mentally screaming inside, it was pure torture, and he wasn't going to stop. Her attempt at forcing herself calm was failing miserably and it took Sephiroth actually stretching her wings, which was agony, to distract her. Sephiroth had told her that he would have to stretch her wings twice a day everyday till she learned to move them for herself and that she should have the muscle tone to start learning to move them after a few days but until then he would have to stretch them, it was thankfully only half an hour of torturous stretching this time but that was long enough and thankfully Sephiroth promptly got up as soon as he was done and put her wings in.

"You may have the morning off but be downstairs and ready to train at 12 sharp," he told her and promptly left her room. Phoenix had no intentions of moving for the rest of the morning untill she had to.

That afternoon training was murder, quite literally. She had gotten onto weapons, he had talked to her through a range, from daggers to maces, bows to guns and many others, their pros, cons ect but ultimately, of course, he thought she would be best with a long sword, naturally. She had sat there listening for over an hour, (at least she wasn't moving around much) whilst he told her about how deadly each weapon was, including her fists, and the best way to kill if necessary or seriously injure. She was at the point where she was just staring wide eyed at him in silence, he was in the middle of telling her about the benefits of heavy versus lightweight weapons when he stopped, he knew she was listening but something was obviously wrong,

"Phoenix, do you have a problem with this lesson or would you prefer to run a marathon?" he asked, she was still looking at him stunned. "Phoenix," he repeated,

"Erm…well it's, no…it's fine," she answered, but he didn't believe her somehow,

"Phoenix I won't ask again," he said warningly. she sighed,

"Well it's just that your trying to teach me to kill, maim, or hurt people and I don't think I could do that," she explained. Sephiroth looked like he was thinking, somehow she figured he was trying to think of a way to convince her,

"Phoenix, it is necessary for you to be able to adequately defend yourself, and sometimes that means that you will have to strike back, attack is the best form of defence," he told her, "So you will learn the craft of using every weapon that I have the ability to teach you to use. You will then choose a preferred weapon and focus on fine tuning the use of it." Phoenix knew that there was no point in arguing the point and she couldn't really be bothered to anyway, she figured that she wouldn't get to choose her final weapon choice completely and at the end of the day even if she learned to use a weapon with superb precision he couldn't make her use it in open combat which hopefully she would never be in. Sephiroth finished his talk then went to practical, moving was difficult with her back the way it was but Sephiroth was focusing on the intricacies of how to hold and move the chosen weapon, (which was a dagger to begin with) and so her training continued.

Sephiroth had taken to giving her lessons after training too, he taught her about history, science, (both practical and magical) culture, geography and everything in-between. There was a lot to learn and he covered these subjects at any spare moment. There was so much to learn, her physical training, mental training, schooling, and as the days went on he began teaching her how to move her wings, he stretched them twice a day for around five days before the pain started to ease up, not to mention how Phoenix felt about Sephiroth running his hands over her as he stretched them. Sephiroth told her to pay attention to the feel of how they moved so that as the days went on she could slowly learn to actually move them on her own.

There was also magic, which was both incredible but hard to catch on to in the beginning, but as it turned out she seemed, (completely surprising her) to have a natural talent for elemental magic, more specifically fire. She was like a child with a new toy, this type of training she loved. Sephiroth had been quite surprised by her ability too, even more when he realised that she could perform it better without channelling through materia than with and he noticed that she obviously enjoyed it. He had noticed on many occasions that she 'played' with her abilities, letting flames lick over her arm and playing them into shapes that fascinated her, holding a fireball in her hand amazed that it didn't burn. In matter of fact heat didn't seem affect Phoenix at all, not hot drinks, fire, water or the sauna, the cold however she hated, even moderate cold and since she had gotten in touch with her magical side it had only gotten worse. She could of course cope with it but she really, really didn't like being cold at all and she got cold very easily becoming one of her favourite things to complain about.

And so her training and lessons continued and a few months slowly passed, she had pretty much just gone for it, (as much as her lack of motivation let her and Sephiroth motivating her the rest of the way) but she was beginning to get that knowing, nagging feeling of 'what's the point'. Phoenix had repeated to herself more and more often recently what Sephiroth had told her about 'wait and see' but she had waited and nothing was really happening, no inspiration, no glimmer of hope, no ideas on what to do with her life here on Gaia, and so her will to get up every morning was only spurred on by the knowledge that if she didn't get up Sephiroth would come for her and that was **never **a good thing.


End file.
